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DISSERTATION 


ON   THE 


History  and  Development 


OF    THE 


ENGLISH    VERB. 


BY 

EMIL    SCHWERDTFEGER, 

Class  '77,  Cornell  University. 


'^  '^  "  "  ^cu,^&^  ^/  ^*7?  -  ^^--^'^ 


/L^.^  ^^-CkI^X^ 


(t,:^.e£y^      ?t^^^^-V.J) 


DISSERTATION 


ON   THE 


History  and  Development 


OF    THE 


ENGLISH    VERB 


BY 


EMIL     SCHWERDTFEGER, 

Class  '77,  Cornell  University. 


NEW- YORK : 
HENRY    HOLT   AND    COMPANY. 

1874. 


f  N  V? 


i   Library,  j 


^^  Callforn^*- 


// 


//SS^ 


PREFACE 


The  present  Dissertation  on  the  English  Verb  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  offer  of  prizes  to  my  Anglo-Saxon  students  in 
The  Cornell  University,  by  the  Early  English  Text  Society  of 
London,  through  their  Secretary,  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Esq.,  to 
whom  all  students  of  the  English  language  and  literature 
must  feel  deeply  indebted,  for  the  untiring  energy  he  has 
shown  for  years,  in  securing  the  literal  reproduction  in  type 
of  the  best  existing  MSS.  of  Early  English  works. 

The  prizes  consisted  of  certain  valuable  publications  of  the 
Society.  But  one  subject  was  given  to  the  classes — "The 
History  and  Development  of  the  English  Verb"— and  the  first 
prize  was  awarded,  without  a  question  as  to  its  superior  merit, 
to  the  author  of  this  Dissertation ;  and  it  was  on  my  testi- 
mony to  its  value  as  a  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  English 
language,  that  his  friend.  Dr.  J.  C.  Rodrigues,  editor  of  "O 
Novo  Mundo,"  in  New- York  City,  to  whom  he  is  indebted 
for  his  education  at  The  Cornell  University,  generously  offered 
to  print  it  at  his  own  expense. 

It  may  not  be  considered  out  of  place  to  state,  that  Mr. 
Schwerdtfeger  entered  the  University  at  the  beginning  of  the 
winter  term  of  1873-74,  he  not  being  of  the  required  age,  six- 
teen years,  to  enter  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  His  studies 
in  English  philology  have  all  been  pursued  since  his  admis- 
sion to  the  University.  He  learned,  during  the  winter  term, 
to  read  the  Anglo-Saxon  with  perfect  ease,  and  in  addition  to 
what  was  read  in  class,  during  the  winter  and  spring  terms. 


87H 


IV  PREFACE. 

namely,  the  Anglo-Saxon  selections  contained  in  my  Hand- 
Book  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English,  he  read  all  the  Semi- 
Saxon  and  Early  English  selections  given,  from  Lajamon  to 
Chaucer,  and  either  read  entire,  or  examined  with  care,  the 
works  cited  on  the  last  page. 

This  will  be  considered  a  pretty  good  ndpepyov,  along  with 
all  the  other  studies  of  the  department  of  the  University  to 
which  he  is  attached ;  but  I  make  the  statement  as  an  evidence 
of  the  honest  work  that  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  Disserta- 
tion. 

I  would  add  that  the  author  has  received  no  help  of  any 
kind  in  its  preparation,  beyond  the  regular  instruction  of  the 
class-room.  The  second-proofs  were  sent  to  me  from  New- 
York,  and  I  was  obliged,  by  reason  of  other  engagements,  to 
read  them  very  hastily.  The  typographical  and  other  errors 
will,  however,  be  found  to  be  but  few,  and  those  unimportant. 

HIRAM  CORSON. 

^jThe  Cornell  University,  24  August,  1874. 


Library.  J 


THE    ENGLISH   VERB, 


I. 

THE  ANGLO-SAXON   PERIOD  (tILL    II50    A.D.) 

§  I.  The  Anglo-Saxon  Verb  lias  two  voices,  the  Active 
and  Passive ;  the  latter,  however,  being  found  as  a  simple 
form  only  in  the  past  participle,  the  other  parts  being 
compounds  of  the  verbs  weor^an  and  wesan,  used  as 
auxiliaries  with  the  past  participle.  There  may  origi- 
nally have  been  a  special  passive  form,  of  which  some 
traces  are  still  perhaps  to  be  found  in  the  weak  verbs 
in  -taUf  the  /  corresponding  seemingly  to  the  Old  Norse 
terminations  ga,  ja^  ka  ;  which  are  allied  to  the  Sanskrit 
/,  that  has  the  same  functions  and  is  besides  used  to 
form  the  passive ;  and  it  seems  probable  that  they  (^^, 
ja^  ka)  may  have  been  used  for  the  same  purpose,  before 
the  origin  of  the  modern  passive  of  the  Scandinavian 
languages,  formed  by  adding  to  the  active  -sk  (later  -j/) 
in  O.  Norse,  and  -s  in  Danish  and  Swedish,  these  termi- 
nations being  weakened  forms  of  the  reflexive  pronoun 
sik."^    Of  the  Medial  fonn  nothing  remains,  exceptmg  an 


*  Vide  Holmboe's  Det  Oldnorske  Verbum^  pp.  2,  12.  What  he  says 
there  may  apply  also  to  the  A.-S.,  for  as  Earle  observes  :  "In  fact,  it 
would  be  hardly  too  much  to  say,  that  a  description  of  the  elder  verbs 
of  any  of  these  languages  (the  Germanic)  would,  with  very  slight  alte- 
rations, pass  for  a  description  of  the  elder  verbs  of  any  of  the  others" 
{Philology  of  the  English  Tongue,  p.  226).  "  The  endings  ga,  Ja,  ka," 
says  Holmboe,  "indicate  partly  the  purely  neutral  state  of  existence 
{det  reent  neutrale  Tilstandsbegrei),  partly  inchoatives  and  passives, 
partly  causatives  or  factives;"  and  examples  may  easily  be  found 
among  the  verbs  in  -ian,  corresponding  to  these  significations,  as  :  i.) 
steallian,wkian,  to  dwell,  etc.;  2.)  dagian^  to  dawn;  mistian,  to  become 
misty,  etc. ;  3.)  hUdegian,  to  make  bloody ;  bldcian,  to  bleach,  etc.    It 


6  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

instance  given  by  Koch,  of  ic  hdtte  occurring  in  the  sense 
of  the  Gothic  haitada^  I  call  myself.  *  But  both  of  these 
forms  must  have  disappeared  at  a  very  early  period  of  the 
language,  in  accordance  with  the  general  tendency  of  all 
the  Aryan  dialects  to  discard  them,  which  maybe  observed 
already  in  the  Sanskrit  in  its  somewhat  irregular  use  of 
the  Medial,  and  still  more  so  in  the  later  Indian  dialects.t 

§  2.  There  are  five  moods^  the  indicative,  subjunctive, 
imperative,  infinitive,  and  participle;  two  simple  tenses^ 
the  present  and  past ;  two  numbers,  singular  and  plural ; 
the  dual,  still  found  in  the  Gothic,  having  disappeared 
from  the  verb,  although  still  in  use  with  the  personal  pro- 
nouns of  the  first  and  second  pers. ;  and  ^xt^  persons,  the 
first,  second,  and  third. 

§  3.  As  in  the  other  Germanic  languages,  there  are  two 
orders  of  verbs,  the  strong  and  the  weak,  the  former  of 
which  form  the  past  by  a  change  of  the  roQtJDWvel  of  the 
infinitive,  the  so-called  Ablaut  of  German  grammarians, 
while  the  pst.  prt.  ends  in  -en,  either  with  or  without  ac- 
companying Ablaut.  The  weak  verbs  form  their  past 
tenses  by  affixing  -de  or  -te,  either  immediately  to  the  root 
or  with  a  connecting  vowel  (p,  a,  e),  and  the  past  prt.  by 


is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  most  of  the  verbs  in  -tan  are  intransitive 
(Loth's  Angelsachshch-Englische  Grammatik,  p.  115) ;  but  it  sdems  to  be 
the  general  opinion  that  this  i  is  merely  a  connecting  vowel  (Matzner's 
Englische  Grammatik,  I.  320,  Morris's  English  Accidence,  p.  173,  etc.), 
and  I  would  therefore  be  extremely  careful  to  advance  this  opinion, 
especially  as  it  is  at  most  only  a  conjecture. 

*  Koch's  Englische  Grammatik,  I.  pp.  243,  343. 

tHolmboe's  Oldn.  Verb.,  p.  12.  "In  the  Prakrit  occurs  only  the 
present  and  imperative  of  the  passive,  together  with  the  participles ;  in 
Pali  it  shows  strong  symptoms  of  declining  use;  in  Bengalee  and 
Hindustanee  it  is  always  circumscribed ;  in  Gothic  it  has  only  the  in- 
dicative and  subjunctive  present.  But  few  traces  of  the  Medial  occur 
in  Prakrit  and  Gothic,  while  it  has  altogether  disappeared  from  the  Pali, 
Bengalee  and  Hindustanee.  In  the  O.  Norse  the  Medial,  as  a  sepa- 
rate verbal  form,  is  entirely  unknown." 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  7 

adding  -d  or  -/,  sometimes  with  and  sometimes  without  a 
connecting  vowel.  One  class  of  the  weak  order  has 
moreover  a  change  of  the  root-vowel  in  the  pst.  tense 
and  pst.  prt. 

§4.  The  sfrong  verbs  maybe  divided  into  21  classes,  n 
according  to  the  root-vowel  of  the  inf.  (corresponding  to 
the  root-vowel  in  the  i  p.  sg.  and  entire  pi.  of  the  prs. 
ind.,  the  pres.  subj.,  the  imp.  and  prs.  prt.);  of  the  i  p. 
sg.  of  the  pst.  indie,  (corresponding  to  the  3  p.  pst.  sg.) ; 
of  the  pi.  ind.  pst.  (corresponding  to  the  2  p.  sg.  pst.  ind. 
and  the  entire  pst.  subj.)  and  of  the  pst.  prt  The  first 
1 1  of  these  classes  have  the  same  root-vowel  in  the  sg. 
and  pi.  of  the  pst.  ind.  and  subj.,  while  in  the  remaining 
10  classes,  the  i  and  3  p.  sg.  ind.  have  a  vowel  different 
from  the  other  persons  of  the  pst.  ind.  and  the  whole  pst. 
subj.    The  root-vowels  of  the  2 1  classes  are : 


Infinitive. 

Past  Sing. 

Past  PI. 

Past  Part. 

I. 

ea 

eo 

eo 

ea 

XL 

a 

eo 

eo 

a 

III. 

e^ 

eo 

eo 

ea 

IV. 

6 

eo 

eo 

6 

V. 

a 

eo 

eo 

5 

vi: 

a 

S(e6) 

a(e6) 

a 

VII. 

^ 

a(e6) 

e(e6) 

ffi 

VIII. 

a 

e(e6) 

e(e6) 

a 

IX. 

a 

6 

6 

a 

X. 

ea(a) 

6 

6 

a  (ea, »,  e) 

XI. 

e(a) 

6 

0 

a 

XII. 

e 

ae 

^ 

e 

XIII. 

i 

36 

& 

e 

XIV. 

i  (eo,  e) 

ea 

ea  (»,  a) 

i(eo,e) 

XV. 

e 

» 

ffl 

0 

XVI. 

i 

a 

s 

u 

XVII. 

e 

se 

"■  u' 

0 

THE  ENGLISH  VERB. 


Infinitive. 

Past  Sing. 

Past  PI. 

Past  Part. 

XVIII. 

e  (eo,  i) 

ea 

U 

O 

XIX. 

e6(a) 

ea 

U 

o 

XX. 

i 

a 

i 

i 

XXI. 

i 

a 

u 

u* 

*■  §  5.  T^Q  present  indicative  does  not  always  contain  the 
stem- vowel,  and  so  we  find  that  in  the  17th,  i8th,  19th 
and  20th  classes,  the  original  stem-vowel  a  has  been 
weakened  in  the  pres.  to  //  in  the  15th  and  i6th  classes 
the  stem-vowel  a  (a)  to  i  (e) ;  in  the  12  th,  13th  and  14th 
the  vowel  a  {ea^  ce)  also  to  /,  e  j  while  in  the  20th  the 
stem-vowel  i  is  strengthened  in  the  pres.  to  /.  f  The  con- 
necting vowel,  which  comes  between  the  stem  and  the 
personal  ending,  was  in  the  strong  verbs  originally  dr, 
which  is  already  weakened  in  the  Gothic  to  i  before  s 
and  ]>,  and  this  becomes  e  in  the  A.-S.  A  few  strong 
verbs  have  ia  (ie)  as  a  connecting  vowel  instead  of  a^  and 
£  has  been  hardened  to  ^,'  or  been  broadened  to  ig,  and  in 
some  words  has  assimilated.  J  Although  the  personal 
ending  has  fallen  off  in  the  i  p.  sg.  prs.,  the  connecting 
vowel  has  still  been  retained  {heald-e  siand-e).  This  per- 
sonal ending,  originally  like  the  others  a  pronominal  stem, 
was  in  its  full  form  -ma^  which  was  weakened  first  to 
-mi  and  then  to  -m,  preserved  by  the  West  Saxon  in  only 
two  verbs,  eom  and  beom ;  while  in  the  northern  dialect 
it  is  still  found  {ic  geseam,  John  4. 19. ;  ic  gedojn^  Luke  12. 
18.,  etc.,  Northumbrian  Gospels ^  Koch),  and  also  in  the 
weakened  form  -n  {ic  cue^on^  Matthew  6.  25.,  Koch). 
The  personal  ending  of  the  2  p.  was  originally  -tva,  which 
was  weakened  to  -//  and  then  softened  to  -si.  It  is  found 
in  Gothic  and  Old  Saxon  as  -j,  which  in  A.-S.  appears 

*  Loth's  Ags.-E.  Grammatik,  p.  104.     Corson's  Hand-Book  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Early  English,  p.  547. 

t  Koch's  Engl,  Gr.  I.  256,  268,  272,  288. 

•  Ibid.  I.  324-325. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  9 

rarely  in  the  ind.,  the  usual  ending  being  -sty  a  strength- 
ened form  of  the  -s  ;  but,  as  with  the  endmg  of  the  i  p., 
it  is  preserved  in  the  North  {^u  hcefes,  Luke  12.  19.,  Koch) 
and  especially  frequently  when  the  pronoun  follows  {spre- 
ces  ISu,  Matt.  13.  10.;  leornas  t5«,  Luke  10.  26.,  Koch) 
which  is  sometimes  joined  enclitically  to  it  (gesiistUf  Matt. 
7.  3 ;  cue^esiUy  7.  4.,  Koch).  The  ending  of  the  3  p.  is 
-/,  originally  -ta,  and  in  a  weakened  form  -//,  which  the 
O.-S.  has  as  -d,  and  the  Gothic  and  A.-S.  as  -)?,  while  the 
Northumbrian  already  shows  the  modem  -s  (geheresy  does, 
getimbresy  Luke  7.  24.,  Koch),  which  may  have  been  de- 
veloped from  O.  Norse  -r,  or  may  be  only  a  corruption 
of  t5,  probably  the  latter,  as  it  elsewhere  also  takes  the 
place  of  -t5,  where  no  -r  is  to  be  found  in  O.  Norse ;  as 
for  instance  in  the  pL  («/<?  getrymesy  tue  gespreces,  John  3. 
II.,  Koch),  where  the  O.  Norse  terminations  are  -ww,  -adh^ 
-and ;  and  in  the  imp.  {gaas  and  cuoo^a'^y  Mark  11.  7., 
Koch),  the  O.  Norse  termination  being  -adh;  and  we  even 
find  it  taking  the  place  of  the  A.-S.  subj.  {doa'^S  sum  huced 
he  to  mh  gectics^as  [A.-S.  secge~e\  John  2.  5.,  Koch).  In 
the  2  and  3  p.  the  connecting  vowel  e  is  often  omitted, 
the  personal  endings  are  joined  to  the  stem,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  vowel  of  the  i  p.,  unless  /,  ^,  ^,  or  ^,  is 
changed,  this  being  the  so-called  Utnlaut ;  ^Mvch  was, 
however,  probably  caused  already  in  the  fuller  forms  by 
the  connecting  vowel  itself,  and  then  retained  by  the  syn- 
copated forms.  It  occurs  but  rarely  in  the  Sanskrit,  more 
frequently  in  Zend  and  Prakrit,  a  it^  times  in  the  Greek, 
and  not  at  all  in  the  Old  Persian.  In  the  Germanic  lan- 
guages it  is  of  comparatively  recent  date,  no  trace  of  it 
being  found  in  the  Gothic,  and  in  Old  High  German 
it  occurs  first  in  the  6th  or  7th  century.  It  is  especially 
developed  in  the  Old  Norse,  A.-S.,  Middle  High  German, 
and  modern  German,  while  it  is  hardly  any  more  felt  in 
English,  Dutch,  and  the  Modem  Scandinavian  dialects. 


10  THE  ENGLISH  VERB. 

In  A.-S.  e  and  eo  become  /,  sometimes  y ;  u  becomes  j^'/ 
a  becomes  e  ;  ea  becomes  ^,  and  sometimes  y;d  becomes 
(s;  3  becomes  i  ;  and  ed^  ed^  HI  become  j),  the  remaining 
vowels  being  unchanged.  When  in  consequence  of  syn- 
copation the  endings  -st  and  -tS  would  come  in  contact 
with  a  dental,  various  changes  take  place :  after  a  -t  of  the 
stem  -st  remains,  but  '5  is  dropped  {ete^  itst^  it) ;  -d  of  the 
stem  is  sometimes  dropped  before  -st^  and  in  the  3  p.  -d^ 
becomes  -/  {ridcy  rist^  rtt)^  but  -nd  of  the  stem  becomes 
«/,  before  which  -t5  in  the  3  p.  is  dropped  (findey  fintst, 
fint) ;  -«  of  the  stem  is  dropped  before  both  terminations 
{weor^e,  wirsij  wir6) ;  -s  of  the  stem  is  dropped  before 
-st  and  -tS  in  the  3  p.  changed  to  -/  {drtse^  drtst,  drtst) ; 
and  -st  of  the  stem  is  dropped  before  the  termination 
-st^  while  -t5  is  omitted  (berste,  birst,  birst).  Besides  these 
changes  a  final  -h  of  the  stem  is  dropped  in  the  i  p.  sg., 
and  a  final  -^,  except  when  preceded  by  -«,  is  changed  "/ 
to  -h  before  -st  and  tS  {ic  fled  for  fleoge ;  fleoge,  flyhst, 
flyh^ ).  The  personal  endings  of  the  pi.  were  originally 
compounds:  ma-si  (I  and  thou  =  we) ;  ta-si  (thou  and 
thou  =  ye) ;  an-ti  (from  the  pronominal  stem  atia-s^ 
this  one,  and  ta^  he,  and  therefore  =  he  and  he  =  they.) 
But  the  endings  of  the  i  and  2  p.  may  have  been  7n-as 
and  t-as^  in  which  case  the  m  and  /  would  designate  the 
person,  while  -as  would  denote  plurality.  Of  the  Ger- 
manic dialects  the  Gothic  and  O.  H.  German  show  these 
terminations  most  clearly,  while  the  A.-S.  and  the  O.  S., 
have  but  one  ending  for  all  three  persons,  the  former  -t$, 
the  latter  -d^  which  are  equivalent  to  the  Gothic  -and,  the 
-n  having  dropped  out  before  the  dental.  When  the  pro- 
noun follows  the  verb  -tS  is  dropped,  and  the  connecting 
vowel  a  weakened  to  e.  * 

*  Koch's  En£^l.  Gr.  I.  322,  324,  325,  333 ;  Loth's  A^s.-E.  Gr.  102 ; 
Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  545-546 ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  173,  175  ; 
Holmboe's  Oldn.  Verb.  28-33 ;  Helmboe's  Det  Norske  Sprogs  Vcesent- 
Ugste  Ordforraad;  Brockhaus'  Conversations-Lexikon,  XV.  299. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  II 

§  6.  The  formation  of  the  past  of  strong  verbs  is  a 
very  striking,  though  not  entirely  peculiar,  feature  of  the 
Germanic  languages,  and,  as  Grimm  says,  is  one  of  their 
chief  beauties.*  It  is  formed,  as  already  mentioned,  by 
Ablaut^  which  occurs  with  remarkable  regularity  and 
agreement  in  all  the  languages  of  this  family,  thus  clearly 
showing  its  conscious  use  as  a  means  of  inflection.  Strongv 
verbs  were  undoubtedly  originally  reduplicative,  although/ ^!!!^*" 
in  some  their  reduplication  can  not  be  clearly  traced ;  but 
in  those  verbs  whose  past  has  the  vowel  of  the  present, 
it  is  so  strongly  marked,  that  some  grammarians  make  of 
them  a  separate  class  of  reduplicative  verbs.  The  verb 
don  shows  undoubted  reduplication  in  its  past  dide.  But 
this  method  of  forming  the  past  tenses  was  lost  at  a  very 
early  period,  not  being  found  in  any  of  the  Germanic 
languages,  excepting  the  Gothic,  where  it  is  restricted  to 
long-syllabled  stems,  and  the  vowel  of  reduplication  is 
always  ai^  and  not  the  stem-vowel,  f  Even  the  Sanskrit 
seems  to  have  had  a  tendency  to  make  away  with  the  use 
of  reduplication,  while  in  the  Prakrit  and  later  Indian 
dialects,  it  has  disappeared  without  leaving  a  trace ;  nor 
has  the  Romaic  retained  any  of  the  Greek  reduplication 
or  the  Romance  languages  the  little  occurring  in  the  La- 
tin. J  The  stem- vowel  a  {ea)  of  the  9th,  loth  and  nth 
classes  is  heightened  to  ^  in  the  pst.  sg.,  and  the  stem-  ^ 
vowel  I  of  the  20th  to  a.  §  There  is  no  connecting  vowel 
in  the  past  and  the  i  and  3  p.  sg.  have  no  personal  end- 
ings. The  -e  in  the  2  p.  (O.-S.  -/)  may  have  come  in  from 
the  subj.,  thus  also  explaining  the  Ablaut  of  the  plural, 
unless  we  would  have  it  agree  with  the  Sanskrit  babar-ita^ 
in  which  case  it  might  possibly  be  the  connecting  vowe  1 

*  Eine  haupt-schb'nheit  unsrer  sprachen,  quoted  by  Earle ;  Philol.  o  f 
the  E.  Tongue,  245. 
t  Koch's  En^gl.  Gr.  I.  330.  tHolmboe's  Oldn.  Verb.  23-24. 

J  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  279,  288. 


12  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

I.*  In  the  pst.  pi.  the  stem-vowel  a  of  the  17th,  i8th, 
19th  and  20th  classes  has  been  weakened  to  u;  the  stem- 
vowel  a  (ce)  of  the  isth  and  i6th  classes  has  been  heigh- 
tened to  d  {m) ;  a  («,  ea)  of  the  12  th,  13th  and  14th  to 
df  &;  and  in  the  9th,  loth  and  nth,  «  {ed)  to  6,\  The 
0  (O.-S.  ti)  in  the  pi.  may  have  arisen  from  the  a  in  «;///, 
while  the  -«  found  in  all  three  persons  has  been  developed 
from  the  3  p.  pi.  J  In  the  2  p.  sg.  and  the  whole  pi.  the 
following  final  consonants  of  the  stem  are  changed  on 
account  of  the  following  vowels:  -h  is  changed  to  -g 
(fiedh^fiuge^flugon) ;  -«  to  -d  {wear^ywurde^  wurdon) ;  -s 
to  -r  (ceds,  cure^  curori).  § 

§  7.  The  subjunctive  was  originally  an  optative  mood, 
designated  byj^,  meaning  to  go^  which  was  shortened  in 
the  Gothic  present  to  /,  and  heightened  in  the  past  to  jd. 
The  modal  /  comes  between  the  connecting  vowel  and 
personal  ending,  combining  in  O.-S.  with  the  connecting 
vowel  a  to  ^,  and  in  the  A.-S.  to  -e,  which  appears  in  the 
singular  of  both  tenses  in  all  persons,  while  the  plural 
takes  -on  as  -en,  like  the  ind.  pst.  pi.  The  pst.  subj.  has 
the  same  Ablaut  as  the  3  p.  sg.  and  entire  pi.  of  the  pst. 
ind.  1 

§  8.  The  imperative  is,  properly,  no  mood,  consisting 
merely  of  the  verbal  as  present  stem,  with  a  pronoun 
added  as  a  vocative;  the  original  terminations  having 
been  dhi  (from  tva^  thou)  and  tat  {ta-si,  ye).  The  sg. 
ending  was  lost  already  in  the  Gothic,  which  retains  a 
dual  form  -ts  and  the  pi.  -t5,  the  latter  of  which  is  found 
also  in  the  A.-S.  The  connecting  vowel  a  is  lost  in  the 
sg.,  but  reappears  in  the  pi.,  and,  when  the  pronoun  fol- 
1  ows,  is  changed  to  e,  while  the  «  is  dropped.  ^ 

*  Koch's  Btii^l.  Gr.  I.  330.        t  Ibid-  1. 256,  268,  272,  279.         X  Ibid. 
$  Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  546;  Loth's  Ags.-E.  Gr.  102. 
II  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  329  ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  I73-I75- 
H  Ibid.  I.  333 ;  Morris's  Engl,  Accid.  175. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  13 

§  9.  The  Germanic  infinitive  is  very  old  and  may  be 
traced  back  as  far  as  the  Sanskrit,  which  has  the  inf.  end- 
ing 'turn,  found  also  in  Pali  and  Prakrit ;  but  the  latter 
often  takes  -dum  instead  (cf.  the  Persian  use  of  both  -ten 
and  -deri)^  and  at  times  even  drops  /  or  //,  thus  passing 
over  to  the  Bengalee  form  in  -on^  -an  ;  which  is  found  in 
the  Gothic  and  other  Germanic  dialects.*  It  may  cor- 
respond also  to  the  Sanskrit  nouns  in  ana,  as  gam-ana-m^ 
from  gam,  where  -m  is  merely  a  neuter  suffix ;  and  the 
inf.  is,  in  fact,  properly  an  abstract  noun,  and  in  the  A.-S. 
the  so-called  dative  infinitive  in  -anne  or  -enne  still  shows 
traces  of  inflection ;  while  in  Sanskrit  the  dative  and  loca 
live  of  nouns  in  ana{dBX  gam-an-dya;  loc.  gamane)  were 
used  as  infinitives,  and  the  ending  -turn,  like  the  Latin  su- 
pine, is  the  accusative  of  a  nominative  in  tus.  f  The  ori- 
ginal locative  idea  of  the  inf.  seems  to  be  still  expressed 
in  modem  languages  by  the  accompanying  preposition 
(^,  a  in  the  Romance  languages,  to,  zu,  etc.  in  the  Ger- 
manic dialects,  except  the  Scandinavian  branch,  which 
has  aty  att,  which  in  Danish,  as  in  English,  must  always 
precede  the  verb,  even  where  it  has  no  longer  the  force  of 
a  preposition.  This  at  is  not  otherwise  used  as  a  prepo- 
sition in  Danish  and  Swedish,  so  far  as  I  know ;  its  only 
independent  use  being  as  a  conjunction,  that,  but  in  Ice- 
landic it  is  also  used  in  the  sense  of  the  English  word  at, 
which  may  perhaps  be  derived  fi-om  it).  In  the  North 
umbrian  dialect  the  -n  of  the  inf.  is  dropped  [ge-cujnce, 
Matt.  14.  28;  cume,  John  8.  22;  cuma,  21,  etc.;  Koch). J 
In  A.-S.  instances  may  already  be  found  of  the  later  con- 
founding of  the  prs.  prt  with  the  dat.  inf.,  the  Rushwood 
Gospels  having  sawende  instead  of  td-sawenne  (Mrc.  IV. 
3;  Madden).     Instead  of  -enne  we  sometimes  also  find 


Holmboe's  Oldn.  Verb.  14.  f  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  17&-177. 

X  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  341. 


14  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

-ene^  which  was  occasionally  written  like  the  simple  inf. 
{td-secatiy  Cod.  Exon.,  217,  and  in  the  A.-S.  Chronicle, 
wealdan^  a°  11 23,  halden^  a°  1140,  etc.;  Madden).* 

§  10.  'Xh^t  present  participle  ends  in  A.-S.  in  -nd^  which 
is  joined  by  a  connecting  vowel.  It  is  equivalent  to 
the  Sanskrit  at,  which  is  a  contraction  for  anta,  a  form 
that  returns  in  the  inflection.  In  the  Prakrit  it  occurs 
partly  unchanged,  more  frequently  in  the  fuller  form,  and 
partly  with  the  dental  weakened,  -anda  (fem.  -andi).\  In 
X\iQ  past  participle  the  stem-vowel  a  of  the  17  th,  i8th, 
19th  and  20th  classes  is  weakened  to  w,  and  the  stem- 
vowel  a  {ce)  of  the  15th  and  i6th  to  u  {p).X  The  Sans- 
krit made  a  limited  use  of  the  suffix  -«^,  which  becomes 
more  frequent  in  Gothic  in  the  metathesized  form  an, 
which  appears  in  A.-S.  weakened  to  -en.  The  participles 
have  never  had  reduplication.  §  The  pst.  prt.  undergoes 
the  same  consonantal  changes  as  the  pst.  tense  (cf.  §  6. 
ge/logen,  geworden,  gecorefi). 

§  II.  Weak  verbs  may  be  divided  into  four  classes,  in 
the  first  of  which  the  connecting  vowel  0  (or  a  ;  Gothic 
and  O.-S.  6)  comes  between  the  stem  and  the  ending  -de, 
in  the  past ;  in  the  second  <?,  while  the  third  drops  the 
connecting  vowel.  The  fourth  also  forms  its  past  and 
pst.  prt.  with  'de  and  -d  (or,  in  some  cases,  -/<?and  -/),  but 
the  root-vowel  is  changed,  not,  as  in  strong  verbs,  by  Ab- 
laut, but  rather  by  Umlaut.  \  The  third  class  in  reality 
belongs  to  the  second,  but  the  connecting  vowel  was  cast 
out  by  stems  with  long  vowels,  and  also  by  those  length- 
ened by  position  with  mn,  ng,  rm,  m,  Id,  nd^  rd /  and 
finally  by  stems  with  short  vowels,  which  assimilate  their 
consonants,  so  that  Ij,  mj,  sj,  dj,  gj,  cj,pj,  become  //,  mm. 


*  Madden's  Edition  of  Lcvramon  s  Brut,  I.  xlix. 

t  Holmboe's  Oldn.  Verb.  15.  %  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  256,  268. 

$  Ibid.  I.  252.  II  Loth"s  Ags.-Engl.  Gr.  114. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  15 

ss,  dd,  gg,  cc,  pp*  Not  much  need  be  said  of  the  prs.  ind. 
and  subj.,  as  they  agree  on  the  whole  with  the  strong 
verbs,  except  that  in  those  of  the  ist  class  the  connecting 
vowel  a  appears  in  the  2  and  3  p.  sg.  {luf-a-si,  iuf-a-% 
which  in  the  i  p.  appears  as  ~ige  {luf-ige\  and  in  the  pi. 
as  ia  {luf-ia-'6) ;  which  is  also  found  in  the  pi.  of  the  2d 
class  {ner-ia-'^),  while  in  the  2  and  3  p.  sg.  the  connect- 
ing vowel  e  appears  {ner-e-st,  ner-e-^);  in  the  i  p.  sg.  -ie 
(ner-ie).  In  the  other  classes  the  connecting  vowel  is 
either  retained  or  syncopated  {dSm\e]^,  sSc[e]6).  Verbs 
whose  stem  ends  in  a  double  consonant,  drop  one  of  the 
consonants  in  the  2  and  3  p.  sg.  ind.  {telle,  ielsi,  tem).\ 

§  12.  The  characteristic  of  the  weak  declension  is  its 
formation  of  the  past  by  adding  -de  or  -ie  to  the  root,  im- 
mediately or  with  an  intervening  connecting  vowel.  Bopp 
at  first  thought  that  in  the  sg.  this  was  the  pst.  prt.  with 
personal  endings,  the  Sanskrit  giving  examples  of  such 
formations  {gaid smi,  iox gaiah  asmi,  I  have  gone);  while 
the  pi,  in  his  opinion,  was  formed  by  a  verb  equivalent  to 
do,  which  Grimm  afterwards  proved  to  be  the  case,  not 
only  in  the  pi.,  but  also  in  the  sg.,  as  may  be  clearly  seen 
in  the  Gothic  inflection  of  weak  verbs  {-da,  -des,  -da; 
dedum  dedu\  didun),  although  the  verb,  with  which  these 
weak  preterites  are  formed  does  not  exist  independently 
in  Gothic!  Another  explanation  has  been  proposed  by 
Holmboe:  "that  %a  or  «/  (the  O.  Norse  forms)  can  be 
considered  analogous  with  the  auxiliary  i'd,  pi.  ie  in  the 
Hindustanee,  which  signifies  was,  were,  and  in  the  Ben- 
galee seems  to  have  combined  with  the  verbal  stem  as  in 
the  O.  Norse."  §  The  terminations  are  -de;  -dest;  -de  -don; 
but  the  editor  of  the  Northumbrian  Gospels  cites  instances 

*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  305-307. 

t  Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  550-553  ;  g^oth's  Ags.-Engl  Gr.  etc. 

X  Holmboe's  Oldn.  Verb.  25. 

$  Holmboe's  Sanskrit  og  Oldnorsk,  9-10 ;  Oldn.  Verb.  26. 


l6  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

from  the  Cod.  Rush,  of  the  i  and  3  p.  sg.  ending  in  -n 
(icfardurty  John  8.  42,  t5^  cuomon  ^e  hcelend,  Matt.  26,  36, 
Koch),  which,  at  first  sight,  would  in  the  former  case 
appear  to  be  the  ancient  1  p.  termination  -m  in  a  weak* 
ened  form,  but  is  probably  only  a  corruption.* 

§  13.  The  only  other  difference  of  the  weak  verbs  from 
the  strong,  besides  the  pst.  prt.,  is  in  the  imp.  sg.,  which 
in  the  ist  class  retains  the  connecting  vowel  {luf-a)^  while 
verbs  having  a  double  consonant,  take  it  single,  with  e.  f 

§  14.  Compound  tenses  occur  already  in  A.-S.  but  not 
as  regularly  as  in  modern  English.  ^h&  perfect  is  formed 
with  the  present  of  habban  and  wesan,  used  auxiliarly  with 
the  pst.  prt.,  but  with  the  distinction  that  habban  is  used 
with  transitives  {^ds  ]>ing  we  habbd^  be  him  gewritene  ; 
A.-S.  Chr.  a°  1087),  dca^wesan  with  intransitives  {Tid  is 
cumertj  John  17.  i).  The  pluperfect  is  formed  with  the 
past  of  these  verbs,  observing  the  same  distinction  {He 
\ds  bSc  hcefde  geleornode^  Boeth. ;  f^  gewordene  wseron, 
A.-S.  Chr.  a°  1087)4  The  imperfectly  occasionally  formed 
as  in  modern  English,  by  the  past  of  don  with  the  inf. 
(JVdne  g^man  ne  dydan^  Oros.)  Don  is  also,  but  rarely, 
used  with  a  noun  {^a  diden  hi  alle  wunder^  A.-S.  Chr.  a° 
1 137).  Besides  this  we  find  the  parts  of  wesan  used,  as 
at  present,  with  the  pres.  prt.  {Gregorius  \e6nde  wees,  M\- 
fric).  The  present  is  often  used  in  a  future  sense,  as  in 
Gothic,  and  we  also  find  the  parts  of  wesan  with  the  dat. 
inf.,  used  like  the  modern  is  to  be  {ysiS  syllanne,  Matt.  17. 

*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  333. 

t  Corson's  tiand-Book  of  A.-S.  552  ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  333, 
X  The  original  meaning  of  possession  in  the  use  of  habban  may  still 
be  clearly  seen  in  A.-S.,  in  the  inflection  of  the  participles,  as  in  the 
above  examples:  "we  have  these  things  in  a  written  state,"  etc.  A 
somewhat  similar  and  very  curious  mode  of  forming  the  past  in  Tur. 
kish,  is  given  by  Max  Miiller:  "In  place  of  an  auxiliary  possessive 
verb,  the  Turkish  language  uses  an  auxiliary  possessive  pronoun  to 
the  same  effect."    Lectures,  I.  318. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  tj 

22;  Koch);  but  the  fut.  is  likewise  already  formed  as  in 
present  English  by  the  parts  of  willan  and  sculan  with 
the  inf.  Willan^  in  its  primary  meaning  as  an  auxiliary, 
denotes  an  action  as  dependent  on  the  will  of  the  subject, 
and  hence  the  fut.*  It  is  likewise  used  to  denote  re- 
peated action  {And  wilddeor  \(Er  woldon  id  irnan,  Boeth.) 
Holmboe  thinks  that  sculan  is  derived  from  Sanskrit  sjan^ 
to  consider,  just  as  munu^  the  other  fut.  auxiliary  in  O. 
Norse  is  allied  to  Goth,  munan^  to  think ;  but  he  com- 
pares with  it  sja,  a  suffix  used  to  form  the  fut,  which 
Bopp  regards  as  a  remnant  of  a  lost  fut.  of  as^  to  be 
(Gramm.  p.  903).f  But  it  seems  more  probable  that  the 
original  present  was  scile^  I  kill,  so  that  sceal  denotes  "  I 
have  slain  and  must  therefore  pay  the  wer-geld"  hence 
"  I  must."  X  It  would  then  be  probably  allied  to  Goth. 
skilja,  a  slayer;  A.-S.,  scylan^  to  cleave;  O.  Norse  skilja, 
Dan.  skjehie^  Swed.  skilja^  to  separate ;  O.  Norse,  skella, 
to  strike,  hew  off;  O.  Norse  skdlk-fy  a  sword,  a  helm. 
The  initial  s  might  have  dropped  off  (cf  A.-S.  smeltan, 
melt  J-  ancient  Lat.  stlocus^  locus ;  stlis,  lis,  etc.),  and  it 
would  then  possibly  be  preserved  in  cwellan,  to  kill,  to 
quell ;  Dutch  kwelen,  Germ,  qudlen,  O.  Norse  kvelja, 
to  torture;  Goth,  qal,  torture,  etc.  As  the  custom  of 
wer-geld  is  already  mentioned  by  Tacitus  in  his  Germania^ 
it  must  have  very  early  acquired  its  meaning  of  obliga- 
tion, which  it  has  already  in  Gothic,  and  which  still  clearly 
appears  in  A.-S.,  although  some  cases  occur  where  it  has 
certainly  none  other  than  a  fut.  signification  ( We  sculon — 

*  Koch's  Etigl.  Gr.  II.  23.  Cf.  the  Persian  fut.,  formed  by  the  verb 
k'dhiden  or  k'dsten,  willan,  used  as  an  auxiliary.  Holmboe's  Oldn. 
Verb.  27.  "  In  Chinese  /a^  means  to  will,  n£^d  is  I ;  hence  ngb^ad,  I 
will.  The  same  root  _y<z£>' added  to  /S'«^,  to  go,  gives  us  ngo  ^ad  k'iu^  I 
will  go,  the  first  germ  of  our  future."     Max  Miiller's  Lectures,  I.  396. 

t  Holmboe's  Det  norske  Sprogs  Ordforraad,  309 ;  Sanskrit  og  Old- 
norsk,  10-12;  Oldn.  Verb, 

t Morris's ^»^/.  .<4<r<:w?.  185,  etc.  ..,*;/ 


I8  THE  ENGLISH  VERB. 

C<?  sum  bispell  reccan^  Boeth.).  It  is  used,  also,  like  the 
Germ,  sollen^  to  make  a  modest  statement :  "  it  is  said,  that 

"  i^d  sceolde  cuman  \^re  helle  hund^ se  sceolde 

habban  \nd  heafdu^  Boeth.  Der  Hollenhimd^  der  drei 
Kopfe  gefiabt  haben  soil,  sollgekommen  sein).  The  modern 
potential  mood  is  expressed  by  the  auxiliary  cunnan,  which 
as  a  transitive  verb  denotes  knowledge  {Afe  ge  cunnon, 
John  7.  28;  HUmeta  can  \es  stafas,  7.  15),  and  thus  natu- 
rally came  to  denote  at  first  an  intellectual,  afterwards  a 
physical,  ability  {Ine  canne,  i  ne  mai  iellan,  A.-S.  Chr.  a° 
113s),  just  as  we  find  scire  sometimes  used  in  the  Latin 
in  the  sense  oi posse  {Te  flagrantis  atrox  hora  CaniculcR 
Nescit  iangercj  Horace),  like  the  French  use  of  savoir, 
Magan  also  indicates  ability  or  possibility,  especially  of 
a  physical  kind  {Hi  ne  mihton — begytan,  A.-S.  Chr.  a^ 
1083),  and  mttan,  besides  its  modern  use  of  necessity 
{Ac  hi  mosion  mid  ealle  \es  cynges  wille  folgian,  A.-S.  Chr. 
a°  1087),  also  denotes  power  {utonfledn — \d  hwile  '6e  we 
m6ton^  ^Ifric)  and  likewise  permission  i^xt  ic  mdte  geseon, 
^Ifric).  There  is  also  found  a  compound  imp.,  formed 
by  an  auxiliary  ttton  used  with  the  inf.  to  express  a  pro- 
posal {uton  agifan  \cem  esne  his  wif,  Boeth.).  Uton  is 
probably  a  corruption  of  the  r  p.  pi.  subj.  prs.  of  wttan, 
to  go.* 

§  15.  The  forms  of  the  substantive  verb  have  3  roots, 
from  the  first  of  which,  as,  meaning  originally  to  breathe, 
the  present  is  formed :  eom  (Sansk.  as-mi,  Goth,  i-iri) ;  eart 
{eas-t,  Sansk.  a-si,  Goth,  i-s) ;  is  (here  the  root  as  is  wea- 
kened to  is,  and  the  suffix  -«  or  -/,  still  found  in  Goth, 
and  Germ.,  is  dropped.  Sansk.  as-ti,  Goth,  is-t) ;  sind 
(this  is  equivalent  to  the  3  p.  pi.  in  Sansk.  santi-=zas-santi ; 
sindon  is  a  double  pi. ;  aron  is  found  in  the  Northumbrian 


*  Koch's  Engl,  Gr.  I.  360-361 ;  II.]22-3o ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  183- 
192,  etc. 


THEJ  ENGLISH   VERB. 


19 


dialect,  coming  probably  from  the  O.  Norse  i  p.  pi.  erum, 
Sansk.  s-masj  s-tha,  s-anti ;  Goth,  sij-um,  sij-W^,  si-nd). 
The  subj.  prs.  is  sie  {sig,  si^  seS)  for  all  persons  in  the  sg., 
and  sten  {sin)  for  all  in  the  pi.  (Sansk.  s-yd-m^  s-yd-s^  s-yd-t; 
s-yd-maSy  s-yd-ta^  s-yd-ni ;  Goth,  si-ja-u^  sij-ai-s^  sij-ai; 
sij-ai-ma^  sij-ai-\,  sij-ai-na).  The  second  root  (allied  to 
Goth,  visatiy  O.  Norse  vera^  Sansk.  vas,  to  dwell),  is  de- 
clined regularly  as  a  strong  verb  of  the  12th  class  {wesan^ 
wcBSj  webron^  gewesen),  and  is  found  in  the  pst.  ind.  and 
subj.,  in  the  imp.,  both  infinitives  and  both  participles. 
There  is  still  another  root,  bd  [fuiy  (pvo))^  the  prs.,  imp., 
and  inf.  of  which  remain  ;*  the  present  being  used,  how- 
ever, more  in  the  sense  of  a  future. 

§  16.  There  are  a  number  of  verbs  in  the  Germanic 
and  other  languages,  which  use  the  preterites  of  strong 
verbs  that  have  been  lost,  in  the  present,  and  from  these 
form  new  past  tenses  according  to  the  weak  conjugation ; 
and  are  therefore  called  preteritive  verbs.  In  A.-S.  they 
are: 


Infinitive. 

X  p.  sg.  pres. 

pi.  pres. 

pst. 

Agan, 

dh. 

dgOTty 

dhtty 

Cunnajtf 

canuy 

cunnon. 

cMe, 

Dugatiy 

dedh. 

dugoUy 

dohtey 

Durrarty 

dear. 

durroUy 

dorstey 

Magartf 

mag. 

magoHy 

nieahtey 

Mdtatiy 

mdiy 

mdtoriy 

mostey 

GemunaUy 

geitian^ 

gemunon, 

gemtmdey 

SculaUf 

scealy 

SCUlOUy 

scoldCy 

Unnatiy 

anriy 

unnouy 

ii^ey 

Wiian, 

wdt, 

witoTiy 

wisiey 

\utfan, 

\earf, 

Ipurfoftf 

yofftey 

beneahy 

benugorty 

benohte. 

*  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  181-182  ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr,  I.34S-346;  Loth's 
Ags.-Engl,  Gr.  127-128. 


20  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

The  original  presents  of  these  verbs  were  probably,  ige^ 
cintu  (allied  to  Goth,  kinnan^  to  produce),  deoge^  deorscy 
meggy  maie^  minne^  sciie,  inne  (this  verb  is  not  found  in 
the  Gothic),  wtte^  \eorfe.  The  last  one,  which  is  found 
in  Goth,  as  nahan^  is  defective  in  A.-S.  In  these  verbs 
the  I  and  3  p.  sg.  are  uninflected ;  unnariy  magan^  dgan, 
and  dugan  have  pi.  Ablaut  with  -e  in  the  2  p.  sg.,  while 
cunnan  and  \urfan  take  both  cunne^  \urfe  and  canst, 
yearfst/  but  the  others  have  lost  the  strong  conjugation 
of  the  a  p.  sg,*  Of  imllan  the  Gothic  has  only  the  subj., 
which  is  also  indicated  by  he  wile,  and  the  same  vowel  in 
the  whole  present  If  it  were  the  ind.  wdl  would  be 
expected  by  pi.  Ablaut,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the 
Northumbrian  Gospels.  The  subj,  has  here  gradually 
taken  the  place  of  the  ind.  and  taken  -4  and  -«tS.t 

*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.   I.  358-359 ;   Loth's  Ags..-Engi.   Gr.  128-131 ; 
Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  183-192, 
t  Koch's  Engl  Gr.  I.  360;  Loth's  Ags.-Engl.  Gr.  127.     - 


II. 

THE    SEMI-SAXON   PERIOD  (1150-1250). 

§  17.  The  Semi-Saxon  period  is  represented  by  the 
two  texts  of  the  Brut  of  La^^amon,  the  Ancren  Riwle, 
by  Simon  of  Ghent  or  Bishop  Poor,  and  the  Ormulum, 
by  Orm,  which  is  of  a  more  recent  date  than  the  others, 
and  aheady  shows  many  of  the  forms  of  Old  Enghsh, 
while  "  the  language  of  Lajamon  belongs  to  that  tran- 
sition period  in  which  the  ground-work  of  Anglo-Saxon 
phraseology  and  grammar  still  existed,  although  gradually 
yielding  to  the  influence  of  the  popular  forms  of  speech  ;"* 
the  language  of  the  Ancren  Riwle  does  not  differ  from  it 
in  any  important  particular.f  With  some  important  dif- 
ferences and  in  general  a  great  confusion  and  uncertainty 
in  their  uses,  the  A.-S.  inflections  are  still  found,  the  prin- 
cipal change  being  the  displacement  of  the  vowels  ^,  o^ 
Uy  in  the  grammatical  terminations  by  ^,  a  process  that 
may  also  be  observed  in  the  High  German  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  1 2th  century.f  It  begins  already  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  A.-S.  Chronicle  ()>^r  wes  for  \cer  wees, 
ben  for  bedn^  alse  for  alswd,  to-deld  for  io-d&ld,  etc.,  a° 
1137).  Another  important  change  is  the  so-called  mm- 
natiorif  which  consists  in  the  addition  of  a  final  -n  to  cer- 
tain grammatical  terminations.  It  is  especially  frequent 
in  text  A.  of  Lajamon,  while  B.  and  the  Ormulum,  which 
generally  drop  the  -Uj  even  in  regular  forms,  show  but 


*  Madden's  Lct^atnon,  I.  xxviii. 

t  Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  513. 

X  Hadley's  Introduction  to  Webster's  I>ictionary,  $  31. 


22  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

little  of  it.  Some  uncertainty  as  to  its  correctness  must 
have  existed,  even  in  the  earlier  text,  for  many  passages 
occur  in  it,  in  which  the  -n  has  been  erased  by  a  second 
hand  and  sometimes  by  the  first.*  The  elision  of  -n  is 
more  fixed  and  regular  in  B.  and  O.  than  in  A.,  which 
does  not  discard  it  wholly  in  any  form,  although  omitting 
it  occasionally  in  very  many.f  These  changes  and  others 
will  be  more  fully  spoken  of  below,  as  they  occur. 

§  1 8.  The  21  classes  of  strong  verbs  are  more  or  less 
confounded  in  S.-S.,  which  is  even  more  apparent  in  A. 
and  B.  than  in  O.,  where  these  vowels  are  used  with 
greater  consistency.  As  in  A.-S.,  strong  verbs  in  Laj. 
change  the  /  of  the  inf.  and  pres.  into  a  ox  a  (B.  d)  in  the 
pst.  sg.,  resuming  /,  however,  in  the  pi.  {arisen^  araSy  ari- 
sen  ;  biten^  baty  biteny  etc.)  The  constant  tendency  in  all 
the  Germanic  dialects  of  enlarging  the  weak  conjugation 
at  the  expense  of  the  more  ancient,  the  strong,  here,  too, 
manifests  itself;  strong  verbs,  in  some  instances,  having  be- 
come weak  or  using  both  forms  {bcdh  and  bo-^ede;  ferde  and 
for;  scop  and  scupte^  etc.)  The  later  text  has  sometimes 
only  the  weak  form,  where  A.  has  both  {walkede  for  weol- 
ken;  iclembde  for  iclumen^  etc.),  although  in  a  few  instances 
the  contrary  takes  place  {soch  for  sohiey  etc.)  As  in  the 
A.-S.,  certain  transitive  verbs  occur,  formed  from  the 
preterite  of  strong  neuter  verbs ;  and,  although  the  con- 
jugations are  occasionally  confounded,  they  are  generally 
kept  distinct,  the  derivative  verb  belonging  to  the  weak 
order  {cerneny  eornen  ;  leggen^  liggen^  etc.).  J 

§  19.  The  I  p.  prs.  ind.  of  strong  verbs  often  ends  in 
-n,  the  use  of  which  may  still  be  seen  in  the  Germ., 
Dutch,  and  Friesic  bin  §  (cf.  the  1  p.  pres.  in  the  North- 

*  Madden's  ZaJ.  I.  xxix.  +  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  103. 

tMadden's  La"^,  I.  l.-li. ;  Hadley's /«//-.  to  W.'s  D.  $  135. 
$  Madden's  iLdtj.  I.  xlix. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  23 

umbrlan  dialect,  §  5),  but  the  usual  ending  is  -e  yet.  The 
nunnation  already  spoken  of  appears  chiefly  in  the  i  p. 
sg.  in  verbs,  which  may  be  explained  by  the  ancient  Teu- 
tonic form  07t,  aftf  en  in  the  i  p.  sg.,  but  other  cases  of  its 
occurrence  in  verbs  can  not  be  satisfactorily  accounted 
for.*  The  2  p.  ends  in  -est  (O.  -esst)\  but  both  in  the 
present  and  in  the  weak  past,  the  final  -/  is  at  times  drop- 
ped, a  form  prevalent  in  O.  Saxon  and  which  Thorpe  also 
points  out  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  Exeter  book.  It  is  more 
common  in  northern  than  in  southern  sources.t  The  3 
p.  ends  in  -e\  (O.  -e\\).  Neither  Laj.  nor  O.  have  the  -j 
of  the  Northumbrian  dialect.  When  the  base  ends  in  -d 
or  -/  the  3  p.  ends  in  -/,  as  in  A.-S.  |  The  variations  of 
vowels  in  Laj.  make  it  uncertain  whether  the  Umlaut 
of  the  A.-S.  in  the  2  and  3  p.  still  remains,  while  Orm 
has  decidedly  none,  but  this  may  be  caused  by  his  having 
only  full  forms.  In  the  A.  R.  the  vowel  of  the  3  p.  sg. 
is  sometimes  changed  {holden^  kalt ;  hoten,  hat ;  fleon^ 
fliJv^  ;  iseon^  isiJt^^  the  last  also  changes  the  vowel  in  the 
2  p.,  isihst).\  The  pi.  endings  are  regularly  -^J>  for  all 
persons  in  A.,  B.,  and  the  A.  R.,  but  in  O.  it  is  of  rare 
occurrence,  -enn  being  the  regular  termination,  which  was 
probably  derived  from  the  subj.  and  pst.  Some  traces  of 
it  appear  to  be  found  even  in  A.  and  B.  ||  In  a  few  in- 
stances the  pi.  in  Laj.  ends  in  -t,  which  seems  attributable 
to  the  scribe  {^if  heo  welwexit^  A.  981,  Madden).  When 
a  pronoun  immediately  follows  the  -\  is  dropped  as  in 
A.-S.,  and  the  ending  -e  is  then  sometimes,  but  rarely,  af- 
fected by  nunnation  [fusen  we  II.  p.  465,  Madden).  ^ 

*  Madden's  Z«j.  I.  xxix. 

t  Ibid.  I.  xlix.  J  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  334,  vide  also  $  $• 
X  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  336;  Madden's  Z-aj.  I,  xlix. ;  Corson's  Hand- 
BookofA.-S.  571. 

$  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I,  338  ;  Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  572. 

II  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  336;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  §  131. 

^  Madden's  La^.  I.  xlix.,  where  he  restricts  it  to  the  I  and  2  p. 


24  THE   ENGLISH   VERB. 

§  20.  The  I  p.  sg.  pst.  sometimes  ends  in  •<?  in  Laj.^ 
and  rarely  takes  the  final  -n.  In  the  2  p.  sg.  the  pi.  Ab^ 
/<2«/with  -^is  still  retained  (|>«  Me,  A.  5045;  \u  come^O. 
2812,  Koch),  but  O.  generally  drops  the  -e  (]>w  gann^ 
2805),*  and  is  very  frequently  subjected  to  nunnation,  par- 
ticularly in  weak  verbs  i^e  eorl  ferden,  A.  21289,  ferde^ 
B.)  t  The  pi.  -on  is  weakened  to  -en  and  this  to  -^,  which 
is  the  rule  with  both  orders  of  verbs  in  B.,  but  occurs 
only  occasionally  in  A.  {ise^en^  A.  20755,  iseh%e,  B. ;  ho 
bilafden,  A.  20765,  hii  blefde,  B.),  which  sometimes  also 
uses  /-  (A.-S.  ge-)  as  a  prefix  {ise^euy  20755,  where  B.  has 
also  iseh-^e)y  a  usage  which  is  rare  in  the  A.-S.,  if  at  all 
known.  I  The  2  p.  sg.  and  entire  pi.  undergo  the  same 
changes  as  the  A.-S.  (§  6).  § 

§  21.  The  terminations  of  the  subj.  are  the  same  as  in 
A.-S.,  -e  for  all  persons  of  the  sg.,  and  in  the  pi.  the 
weakened  form  -en^  which  sometimes  drops  the  final  -;/. 
The  2  and  3  p.  sg.  are  subject  to  nunnatioUj  unless  some 
of  the  instances  of  its  occurrence  be  considered  as  ellip- 
tical expressions,  the  inf.  being  employed  and  an  auxiliary 
understood ;  for  in  some  cases,  although  the  verb  has  a 
subjunctive  force,  it  certainly  appears  to  be  in  the  inf. 
{wunieny  II.  103,  beon,  III.  145,  nimen  and  scriuen,  II. 
347,  etc..  Madden),  and  this  seems  also  probable  with 
such  expressions  as,  \at  \u  li^en^  III.  25,  \at  \u  cumen, 
JII.  24,  etc,  (Madden)  and  in  many  other  cases.  The 
pst.  subj.  of  one  text  is  occasionally  expressed  in  the 
other  by  an  auxiliary  (]>^/  he  hine  gn^ede^  A.  31032 ;  \at 
he  hi.,  grille  wolde^  B.,  Madden).  ||     The  pi.  Ablaut  still 


*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  331 ;  Hadley's  Inir.  to  W.'s  D.  %  137. 

t  Madden's  La^.  1. 1.    Cf.  $  12. 

X  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  331 ;  Madden's  Zcg.  I.  1. 

$  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  138. 

II  Madden's  Lar^.  1. 1.  li. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  25 

continues  in  the  pst.  subj.  (swunke^  Lag.  17909 ;  he  spceke^ 
O.  16260).* 

§  22.  The  imp.  sg.  is  simply  the  verbal  stem,  as  in 
A.-S.,  although  an  -^  is  frequently  added  as  in  the  i  and 
3  p.  sg.  pst.  t  The  A.-S.  imp.  pi.  has  been  weakened  to 
-<j^,  which  in  A.  is  subject  to  nunnatioji  as  well  as  the  sg.  J 

§  23.  The  inf.  ends  in  -en  (O.  -enri)^  the  final  -;/  of  which 
is  sometimes  omitted  in  text  A.,  and  generally  so  in  B., 
and  it  is  also  commonly  preceded  by  the  preposition  A?, 
but  is  occasionally  governed  by  a  preceding  verb  without 
a  preposition ;  and  in  B.,  as  in  O.  English,  for  is  some- 
times used  for  for  to  (for  habbe  to  cwiefte,  B.  4380 ;  to 
habben  to  are  quene^  A.,  Madden).  Laj.  and  the  A.  R. 
still  preserve  the  dative  inf.  in  -euTte  or  -ne^  while  O.  has 
only  the  simple  inf.  form,  the  doubling  of  the  -n  being 
merely  a  sign  of  a  short  syllable.  The  A.  R.  especially 
in  longer  words,  frequently  confounds  it  with  the  inf.,  and 
Laj.  with  the  prt.  in  -nde  {^a  gon  he  to  fled^ie^  A.  21650 ; 
\o  gonne  hit  tofleonde^  B.),  which  is  more  apparent  in  R 
than  in  A.,  but  is  common  to  both,  nor  are  similar  in- 
stances wanting  in  A.-S.  (Cf.  §  9).§ 

§  24.  The  pres.  prt.  is  extremely  rare  in  S.-S.,  only  33 
instances  being  found  in  both  texts  of  Laj.,  of  which  A. 
supplies  two  thirds.  The  usual  ending  in  A.  is  -ende  or 
4ndey  the  latter  being  also  the  regular  form  in  the  A.  R. 
Three  participles  have  the  double  ending  -ejide  and  inge^ 
and  one  has  inge  alone.  In  B.  both  terminations  are 
found,  but  the  proportion  in  -inge  is  one  half.  Occasion- 
ally B.  has  -ende^  where  A.  reads  -inge.     Orm  has  -ennde 

*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  332. 

t Koch's  Engl,  Gr.  I.  333;  Vide  Matzner's  Englische  GrammoHk,!*. 
320-321. 

X  Madden's  Zaj.  1. 1. ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  333. 

^  Madden's  ZaJ.  I.  xlix. ;  Koch's  EngL  Gr.  I.  340-341 ;  Corson*S 
Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  $jo. 


26  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

alone,  the  forms  in  -ing  being  substantives  as  in  A.-S. 
The  -ande  of  the  Northumbrian  gospels  is  retained  only 
in  northern  documents.*  The  participial  form  in  -inge  is 
probably  a  corruption  of  -inde  rather  than  of  -ende  or 
-andcy  the  sounds  of  -inde  and  -mge  being  no  doubt 
closely  related,  and  Morris  even  quotes  an  instance  of 
their  rhyming  together  {^finde^  kervynge^  K.  Alys.  II. 
6551-2).!  It  is  also  a  curious  fact  that  the  Sandwich 
Islanders  can  not  see  the  difference  between  d  and  g^  % 
and  even  Webster  "  goes  so  far  as  to  maintain  in  his  In- 
troduction to  his  English  Dictionary,  that  in  English  gl 
is  pronounced  dl ;  glory  is  pronounced  dlory"  (Max 
Miiller's  Lectures,  II.  168-169).  The  pst.  prt.  ends  in 
-en^  the  augment  ge-  being  represented  by  the  weakened 
form  /-,  which  hardly  ever  appears  in  O.,  while  in  the 

A.  R.  it  is  almost  invariably  used,  except  before  certain 
prefixes.  It  is  declined  like  an  adjective  as  in  A.-S.,  and  as 
such  retains  many  marks  of  the  former  declension,  hav- 
ing also  traces  of  the  definite  and  indefinite  forms.  The 
final  -n  is  generally  dropped  in  B.  {Andhii  blefde  of-slawe^ 

B.  20765;  and  ho  bilafden  of-sla'yzn.  A.)  and  sometimes 
in  A.  The  pst.  prt.  of  some  verbs  is  found  both  strong 
and  weak,  as  with  the  pst.  tense  {ay?nged,  a^eongefi ;  ileo- 
sed  and  iloren^  etc.,  Madden).  § 

§  25.  The  weak  verbs  may  be  divided  into  two  classes : 
those  which  form  the  pst.  by  adding  -de  (or  -te  after  a 
surd)  directly  to  the  root  (a  k  or  ch  is  sometimes  changed 
to  h  before  this  -te  and  the  root-vowel  e  to  o^  as  sechefiy  O. 


*  Madden's  Zaj.  I.  li. ;  Koch's  En^l.  Gr.  1. 342 ;  Corson's  Hand-Book 
of  A.-S.  570  ;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  133. 

t  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  180 ;  Morris's  A'^enHte  of  Inwyt,  Ixiv.  ; 
cf.  Genesis  and  Exodus,  xxxviii. 

X  Max  Miiller's  Lectures,  II.  167. 

(  Madden's  La'^.  I.  li, ;  Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  566,  570 ;  Had- 
ley's Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  %  134. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  2/ 

sekenn^  being  the  same  as  the  4  class  in  A.-S.) ;  and  those 
which  have  an  intervening  connecting  vowel,  e.  The  lat- 
ter class  is  a  remnant  of  the  conjugation  in  -iajt^  which 
may  be  still  clearly  distinguished,  although  in  O.  the  /  of 
these  verbs  has  been  lost.  The  inf.  of  this  conjugation 
■  in  A.  and  the  A.  R.  is  ien^  while  B.  has  /  [wunien,  A. 
20960;  wonie^  B. ;  i^olien^  A.,  \olie^  B.  21 150;  luuien, 
A.  R.,  etc.),  no  fewer  than  65  verbs  being  thus  formed  in 
it,  and  of  these  1 1  are  also  found  in  A.* 

§  26.  The  terminations  of  the  pres.  of  weak  verbs 
have  changed  but  little ;  sg.  ind.  -^,  -est  (O.  -esst\  -t5  (O. 
-^W)  j  P^'  "^  (^*  -^^^'  The  terminations  of  the  past 
have  likewise  remained,  the  2  p.  sg.  rarely  dropping  the 
-/  in  -est^  as  in  the  pres.  of  strong  verbs.  This  is  already 
found  in  A.-S.  {yu  /tjes^eSy  Cs&d. ;  wendes  \u^  268,  22, 
Koch),  t  Nunnation  is  of  the  most  frequent  occurrence 
in  the  3  p.  sg.,  but  occurs  also,  as  in  strong  verbs,  in  the 
I  and  2  p.,  and  this,  too,  is  already  met  with  in  the 
Northumbrian  gospels  (§  12).  Several  instances  pf  a 
contracted  form  of  the  pst.  tenses  occur  in  both  texts, 
but  principally  in  K.\  The  subj.  retains  its  terminations 
in  both  pres.  and  pst,  being  subject  to  nunnation  like 
strong  verbs.  The  imp.  sg.  of  the  second  class  ends  in 
-e  (-fl,  -^,  in  A.-S.,  vide  §  13),  which  is  sometimes  omitted 

*  Madden's  Lar^.  I.  li. ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  340 ;  Corson's  Hand' 
Book  of  A.-S.  577  ;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  IV.' s  D.  $$  139-141. 

t  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  327,  334. 

t  Madden'j  La"^.  I.  1.  "7«r«(f  is  probably  the  contracted  (or  strong) 
form  of  the  past  tense  turnede,  in  the  same  manner  as  wone  for  wonede, 
cleope  for  cleopede,  somne  for  somnede,  answere  for  answerede,  gadere  for 
gaderede,  etc.,  all  of  which  occur  in  the  later  text,  and  similar  forms  are 
found  nearly  two  centuries  later,  in  the  Wycliffe  Bible.  In  the  earlier 
text,  also,  we  meet  with  ysreke,  luue,  wune^  make,  cleope,  dune,  etc., 
written  by  the  first  hand,  but  subsequently  corrected  in  some  passages 
to  "^cerekede^  luuede,  wunede,  ntakede,  cleopede,  dunede.  We  have  also  the 
forms  gadere,  answare,  help,  etc.,  left  uncorrected."  III.  454,  note  to 
e  1970. 


aS  THE   ENGLISH   VERB. 

{loc^  O. ;  M,  B.,  but  both  have  also  loke^  etc.).  The  imp. 
sg.  of  the  other  class  coincides  with  the  verbal  stem,  and 
the  pi.  in  the  i  class  is  -^,  in  the  2d  -ie^  (A.-S.  ia^  ).* 
What  was  said  of  the  prt.  of  strong  verbs  applies  also  to 
weak  ones.  The  pst.  prt.  of  weak  verbs,  ending  in  -d  or 
-/  takes  -e  in  the  pi.  and  often  doubles  the  consonant  in 
d  {ibredde,  iladde^  etc.),  but  in  B.  the  -e  or  -//<?  is  some- 
times dropped,  t 

§  27.  The  mode  of  forming  the  compound  tenses  of 
the  past  has  not  changed,  D6n  being  still  used  with  the 
inf.  to  form  the  imperfect,  and  the  parts  of  Habban  and 
Be6n  with  the  pst.  prt.  to  form  the  perfect  and  pluperfect, 
observing  the  same  distinction  in  their  use  as  in  A.-S 
Willan  and  Sculan  are  still  the  auxiliaries  of  the  fut., 
which,  as  in  A.-S.,  is  frequently  expressed  by  the  present. 
The  O.  Norse  munu,  used  for  the  formation  of  the  fut.,  is 
employed  in  nearly  the  same  manner  by  O.  (Ofdredd  \ait 
all  his  gode  dede  ne  mune  himm  nohht  beon  inoh^  7927, 
Koch),  and  is  also  used  in  conditionardauses  (For  yf  he 
wrohhte  brad  off  stan  \a  munnde  he  seon  l^ati  mahhte 
ann  munnde  trowwen  wel  ]>all  he  Crist  Godes  Sune  wcBre^ 
11613-11617).  Be3n  is  also  used,  as  in  A.-S.,  with  the 
dat.  inf.  with  a  fut.  signification  of  necessity  or  possibility. 
Cunnan  the  potential  auxiliary  {cu\enn  tellenn^  O.  11969) 
is  still  transitive  {ci^e  \ene  wceiy  A.  21559),  ^^  ^^^^  ^^ 
the  similar  auxiliary  Magan  (trans. :  he  ma%%  ofer  ]>a,  O. 

8042,   Koch;    aux.:  JVe  maj;^  libben^  O.    11344). 

Motan  denotes  permission  {yf  heo  moten  Men^  A.  20873) 

and  obligation  or  necessity  {He  Tnot ekenn^  O.  57); 

\urfan^  used  as  in  A.-S.  to  denote  permission  {Ne  \urfe 
we  iseon^  A.  8367,  Koch),  is  still  found  transitive 

*  Corson's  Hand-Book  of  A.-S.  577-580;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D. 
$141. 
t  Madden's  Lay  I.  li. 


THE   ENGLISH   VERB.  29 

(Nmt  mann  ne  \urfte  off  himm^  O.  161 64,  Koch). 
Lajamon  preserves  the  imp.  auxiliary  Utofi  in  uten  we 
(A.  20635,  Koch),  where  B.  has  hotie.  The  fut.  aux.  Scu- 
Ian  is  also  used  in  an  imp.  sense  {Ge  ne  shulen  habben, 
A.R.),  and  Lebian  inclines  in  S.-S.  to  the  auxiliary  use  of 
modern  E,  serving  to  circumscribe  the  imp.  subj.  espe- 
cially in  the  i  p.  [Loet  deluen  \as  dich,  A.  15894,  Koch).* 
Jgan  is  still  a  transitive  verb  {al  \el  he  ouhte^  A.R.),  but 
already  begins  to  be  used  as  an  auxiliary,  debere,  as  in 

modern  E.  {hwi  me  ouh luuien,  A.R.),  being  thus  first 

used  in  Lajamon's  he  ah  to  don  (8289).  I  know  of  no 
other  Germanic  dialect  in  which  the  verb  Agan  is  thus 
used,  excepting  the  Icelandic,  where  it  is  used  both  as 
own  and  ought  {vildi  ekki  star/a  \att,  sein  hann  dtti  at 
skipi  giora  ;  "  would  not  do  the  work  he  ought  to  do  on 
the  ship."  Islandsk  Laesebog,  p.  114) ;  and  perhaps  this 
use  of  Agan  was  borrowed  from  it,  like  the  pi.  are^  and 
other  forms. 

§  28.  In  the  substantive  verb  the  northern  form  am, 
first  found  in  the  Northumbrian  gospels,  is  retained  and 
is  the  only  remnant  of  the  i  p.  suffix  -w.  The  2  p.  is  (eri, 
art,  eart  (L.),  arrt  (O.),  ert  (A.  R.)  ;  3  p.  is  (iss,  O.) ;  pL 
sunden  (A.),  sinndenn  (O.) ;  subj.  prs.  si,  pi.  sion  (not  found 
in  O.).  Of  the  second  root  we  have  i  and  3  p.  sg.  pst. 
was  (wcBS,  wes,  wass),  2  p.  wass,  O.  (were  ? )  ;  pi.  weren 
(wcerenn,  O.);  subj.  sg.  were  (wcere,  O.),  weren  (wce- 
renn,  O.).  Bedn  still  retains  the  fut.  force  of  the  A.-S., 
so  that  wor^e,  B.  represents  beon.  A.,  and  shal  be,  B.  167 
(Koch)  stands  for  he  be\  in  A.  Its  parts  are :  i  p.  beon 
(L.),  2  p.  beost,  bist  (best,  O.),  3  p.  beo'^,  be^,  btb  ;  pi.  beo'^, 
be^,  bi6  (arn,  ben,  O.) ;  subj.  beo,  beon ;  imp.  sg.  beo,  be 
(L.  has  also  the  imp.  wes,  seo) ;  pi.  beo'^,  be^  ;  inf.  beon, 
ben ;  pst.  prt.  ibeon,  beon,  ben,  ibe.  In  B.  and  O.  eo  is 
often  contracted  to  e  (best,  ben,  etc.).  Negative  forms 
*  Koch's  En^l.  Gr.  I.  3S7-3S8 ;  II.  19-30- 


30 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 


occur  as  in  A.-S.  by  compounding  with  ne  (nam^  nart,  nis; 
naSy  nere).* 

§  29.  The  preteritives  are  mostly  retained,  but  some 
have,  to  a  great  extent,  disappeared.  In  Lajamon  they 
appear  as 


Inf. 

1  p.  sg.  prs. 

pi.  prs. 

pst. 

A^hen, 

a/ty 

aytty 

ahte 

Cunne, 

catty 

cunnetiy 

ci/^e 

der(r)y 

durreriy 

durste  (dorsie) 

viceiy 

mageuy 

mihte 

moty 

moteny 

mosie 

scaly 

sculeUy 

scolde 

Witen, 

wat  (wot) 

witetty 

wuste 

A-^hen  in  the  A.  R.  forms  the  negatives  nouhsty  nouhy  no- 
wen,  O.  besides  cann  has  also  cunne\  in  the  3  p.  sg. 
(12276,  Koch).  Dugan  seems  to  have  been  displaced  by 
Magany  being  probably  retained  longer  at  the  north,  for  O. 
still  has  ic  amm  \cstt  \ing  \attnohht  ne  dceh  (4872,  Koch) ; 
the  A.  R.  also  retains  the  3  p.  sg.  deih.  Magan  has  mu- 
ihcy  mu^hen  in  the  prs.  pi.  ind.  and  prs.  subj.  in  O.,  which 
is  probably  a  corruption.  Bosworth  cites  mtigon  already 
in  A.-S.  JVsLiid  5  often  interchanging  we  find  mawe,  B. 
1520,  ma-^ey  A.  (Koch) ;  and  in  the  A.  R.  we  find  the  pi. 
muwen,  muwcy  and  also  instead  of  mihte  in  the  pst.  muhte 
and  muhtest.  The  A.  R.,  already  has  the  2  p.  sg.  prs.  of 
Mdtan  as  mosty  instead  of  mote  as  in  L.  and  O.  Munan 
is  preserved  by  O. ;  L.  has  the  weak  form  niunien.  A. 
has  mostly  sc  in  the  forms  of  Sculany  rarely  schy  which  is 
the  regular  form  in  the  A.  R.,  while  B.  has  generally  sim- 
ply s.  Unnan  has  still  a  few  forms  left.  Witan  is  best 
preserved  in  O. ;  the  A.  R.  like  L.  has  wuste  in  the  pst, 
and  it  has  likewise  the  prs.  pi.  wutelSy  and  the  prs.  subj. 


*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  345-348;  Corson's  Hand-Book,  of  A.-S.  580; 
Hadley's /«//•.  to  W.'s  D.  $  144. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 


31 


wute,  \urfan  occurs  in  but  few  forms  in  the  A.  R.,  while 
L.  has  only  the  prs.  Nahan  has  altogether  disappeared. 
The  Ablaut  forms  mage^  age^  cunne^  etc.  first  disappear  in 
L.,  which  shows  that  they  were  no  longer  felt  as  forms  of 
the  pst.  L.  has  wille  d^xA  wolle  in  the  prs.  of  the  irregu- 
lar verb  WillaHy  and  in  the  subj.  wullcy  wolle;  O.  has 
wile  in  the  prs. ;  A.  R.  wulle ;  while  the  pst.  in  all  is 
wolde  (wolldej  O.).* 

"  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  349-359 ;  Corson's  Hand-Book  ofA.-S.  580-581  , 


III. 

EARLY   ENGLISH   PERIOD    (1250-1550). 

§  30.  "  The  periods  in  the  history  of  our  language 
which  are  known  as  the  Old  English  and  the  Middle 
English,  differ  chiefly  in  their  vocabulary :  in  grammatical 
points  they  are  not  so  far  unlike  as  to  require  a  separate 
treatment."  (Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  §  147).  The 
strong  verbs  are  now  greatly  reduced,  many  having  been 
added  to  the  weak  class,  a  process  already  seen  to  take 
place  in  S.-S.,  and  which  was  at  work  already  at  a  much 
earlier  period  and  has  not  yet  ceased.  The  classes  of  the 
remaining  verbs  have  become  much  confused  and  ob- 
scured, and  of  some  we  find  both  weak  and  strong  forms 
at  the  same  time  {slepte^  sleep ;  wepie^  weep;  etc.).  The 
dropping  of  the  final  -«,  already  so  marked  towards  the 
close  of  the  S.-S.  period,  as  seen  in  B.  and  especially  O., 
has  become  general,  being  freely  omitted  in  all  forms,  and 
we  even  sometimes  find  the  unaccented  e  before  the  -n 
dropped  in  writing,  as  it  may  have  been  occasionally  in 
pronunciation,  though  generally  sounded  in  Chaucer.* 

§  31.  The  I  p.  sg.  prs.  still  ends  in  -^,  but  already  fre- 
quently drops  it,  and  according  to  the  verse  it  appears  to 
have  been  usually  silent  even  when  written.  The  2  p. 
retains  its  termination  -est  and  the  3  p.  -^J>,  but  as  in  the 

1  p.  the  -€  is  frequently  dropped  or  interchanged  with  /, 
y.  Especially  the  northern  dialects  frequently  drop  the 
-/  in  the  2  p.  and  have  es^  is^ys.    The  Scotch  has  also  the 

2  p.  in  -is.     Thou  is  often  enclitically  united  to  the  2  p., 

*  HadleyV  Intr.\  ta  W.'s  D.  ^  165  166. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  33 

so  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  -/  belongs  to  the  flection 
or  to  the  thou  {woltou,  hastou,  P.  Plowman,  Passus  V. 
152-153).     The  -ey  of  the  3  p.  is  found  in  Robert  of 
Gloucester,  WyclifFe,  Chaucer,  and  Maundeville,  but  Peter 
Langtoft  and  the  <A.-S.  and  O.  E.  Psalter'  frequently 
have  -es^  and  Chaucer,  who  himself  uses  only  -eihj  has  the^ 
clerks  from  the  north  use  -s.    The  southern  dialect  shows 
the  same  preference  for  the  inflection  -ih,  that  Jennings 
notices  in  his  observations  on  the  dialects  of  the  west  of 
England,  and  in  many  cases  it  distinguishes  the  sg.  from 
the  pi.     If  the  verbal  stem  ends  in  -/  or  -d,  or  even  in  -x,' 
-/  takes  the  place  of  -eth  (agelt,  K%.  of  Inwyt,  but  immedi- 
ately after,  agelteY).     In  some  verbs  the  vowel  is  changed 
in  the  3  p.  sg.  {healden^  halt ;  hoten^  hat ;  etc.).     The  pi. 
in  'e\  is  still  retained,  but  the  northern  dialects  here  too 
have  es  {is^  ys),  this  form  coinciding  with  the  3  p.  sg. 
The  ending  -^J>  is  found  in  Robert  of  Gl. ;  P.  Langtoft 
has  -e]>  and  -es,  P.  Plowman,  -eth  and  -en,  the  latter  being 
by  far  the  most  frequent  form  in  Chaucer  and  Wycliffe 
and  the  regular  one  in  Maundeville.    These  two  termina- 
tions are  sometimes  found  together  [A//e  that  helpen  the 
innocent,  And  holden  with  the  rightfulle  Withouten  mede 
doth  hem  good  And  the  truthe  helpeth,  P.  Plwm.  p.  57 
Matzner).     The  -n  is  frequently  dropped  in  the  termina- 
tion -e7t,  as  in  all  other  endings.* 

§  32.  The  I  and  3  p.  of  the  pst.  of  strong  verbs  is  still 
properly  without  personal  ending  or  connecting  vowel, 
but  in  northern  writers  they  are  often  supplied  with  a  final 
-e  {atstode — and  drof,  R.  of  GL),  which  may  be  referred 
to  the  2  p.  sg.  pst.  and  the  sg.  subj.  pst.,  as  they  were  con- 
founded at  an  early  period  already.     This  -e  was  likewise 


■*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  325,  334-337  ;  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  320-325  ; 
Morris's  A-^enbite  of  Inwyt^  lix.-lx.  Ixxxiv. ;  Morris's  Early  English  Al- 
literative Poems  xx.-xxi. ;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  Z>.'<5  167. 


34  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

added  to  other  endings,  especially  those  in  -eth  {comethe  and 
brennethe^  Sir  J.  Maund.)  It  was  undoubtedly  silent,  so 
that  we  find  both  forms  used  together  {toke^  toky  etc.)  The 
2  p.  sg.  for  a  long  time  retained  the  pi.  Ablaut  and  the 
termination  -e  {Thow  gefe — and  breke — ahd sete^  P.  Plwm. 
p.  2)^^  \  Matzner),  but  this  form  is  exceedingly  rare  in  the 
northern  dialects,  and  the  tendency  to  cast  it  off  has  been 
seen  already  in  O.  (§  20).  But  when  the  distinguishing 
Ablaut  was  dropped,  -e  not  sufficiently  indicating  the  2  .p., 
the  -est  of  weak  verbs  began  to  take  its  place,  especially 
when  a  weak  form  of  the  verb  existed.  The  pi.  ending 
-en  is  found  in  the  southern  and  Midland  dialects,  while 
the  northern  inflects  neither  sg.  nor  pi.  of  the  pst. ;  the  -n^ 
however,  is  frequently  dropped.  While  the  -n  is  dropped 
from  the  pi.  it  is  frequently  transferred  to,  the  sg.  in 
Maundeville,  reminding  of  nunnation  in  Lajamon.* 
The  southern  dialect  still  preserves  the  pi.  Ablaut,  but 
the  northern  furnishes  no  examples  of  it  {starf,  A5.  of 
Inw.  p.  165 ;  storven,  p.  67 ;  Morris), t 

§  33.  The  subj.  retains  its  terminations  in  both  numbers 
of  both  tenses,  although  -n  is  not  frequently  found.  The 
-n  of  the  subj.  is  frequently  dropped  already  in  the  A.-S., 
when  followed  by  a  pronoun,  as  with  the  -^^  of  the  pres. 
pi.  and  imp.  pi.  {hwcetete  we,  hwcdt  drince  we^  Matt.  6, 31 ; 
Koch).t 

§  34.  The  imp.  of  the  sg.  often  adds  a  final  -«?/  the  pi. 
ends  in  -]>  (herkeneth,  taketh,  Ch.  Cant.  Tales,  782-783), 
which  the  northern  dialects  have  as  usual  in  the  form  -s. 
Already  before  the  end  of  the  14th  century,  however,  the 
sg.  form  is  found  occasionally  for  the  pi.  (Adrawe^  y?ure 
suerdesj  and  loke — R.  of  Gl.).     The  subj.  with  we  was 

*  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  321,  325-326 ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  330-331, 
334-337;  Morris's -(4  J.  of  Inw.  Ix.-lxi. ;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  168. 
t  Morris's  A"^.  of  Inw.  Ixi. 
t  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  170;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  337. 


THE   ENGLISH    VERB.  35 

early  used  for  the  imp.  {Go  we,  and  sle  we  hym,  and pittie 
we  hym  in  an  olde  sis  fern,  Gen.  xxxvii.  20).* 

§  35.  The  inf.  generally  drops  the  -n  of  the  termination 
and  appears  as  -e,  the  common  form  in  WyclifFe,  and  espe- 
cially frequent  in  the  north.  Chaucer  uses  both  forms, 
but  the  fuller  is  comparatively  rare,  and  seems  to  have 
been  required  more  by  the  verse,  to  prevent  the  -e  from 
being  elided  before  a  following  vowel.  Thus  there  are 
221  infinitives  in  the  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales,  of 
which  2  drop  thein£  ending  entirely,  175  drop  the  -n  and 
only  44  have  retained  it.  Of  these,  ^^  stand  before  vow- 
els and  10  alone  before  consonants,  while  i  ends  a  line. 
Of  the  infinitives  in  -<f,  64  end  lines,  50  stand  before 
consonants,  and  the  remaining  61  before  vowels,  most  of 
them  being:  elided.  The  dat.  inf.  survived  as  late  as  the 
14th  century,  but  it  generally  appears  like  the  simple  inf. 
{to  nimene  and  of-hyealde,  K%.  of  Inw.),  and  may  proba- 
bly still  be  seen  in  the  so-called  long  forms  of  Chaucer's 
inf.  {to  done,  to  slane).  The  dat.  inf.  early  became  con- 
founded with  the  pres.  prt.,  and  when  the  latter  was 
changed  to  -inge  or  -ing  it  also  assumed  that  form.t 
'  §  36.  In  southern  dialects,  the  pres.  prt.  ends  in  -iyide, 
in  the  Midland  in  -end,  and  in  the  northern  in  -ande  j  but 
in  the  first  two  the  tendency  to  use  the  form  in  -inge, 
shown  already  in  S.-S.  (§  24),  is  very  strongly  marked. 
R.  of  Gl.  has  4nde,  -ynde  and  -inge ;  Trevisa  (a.d.  1387) 
uses  only  -inge  or  -ing,  while  Peter  Langtoft,  Sir  Tristrem, 
and  the  Psalter,  have  only  -and,  which  is  rarely  used  by 
Chaucer,  he  usually  having  -ing,  while  his  contemporary, 
Gower,  generally  uses  the  Midland  form  -end.   In  Wycliffe, 

*  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  326-327 ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  333,  337 ;  Mor- 
ris's A"^.  of  Inw.  Ixxvii.-lxxxii. ;  Hadley's  Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  171. 

t  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  328  ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  340-342;  Hadley's 
Intr.  toW.'s  D.  $  172;  "MoTTis's  A'^.o/ Inw.  Ixiii.;  Morris's  Engl.  Auid. 
176-177. 


36  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

the  translations  vary,  Purvey's  revision  has  only  -inge, 
-ynge  as  participle  and  substantive,  while  in  the  ori- 
ginal 13  books  distinguish  between  -inge  and  -ende. 
Northern  writers  never  omit  the  -n  of  the  pst.  prt., 
while  it  is  very  frequently  omitted  in  the  southern  dia- 
lects, all  Trevisa's  pst.  participles  of  strong  verbs  end- 
ing in  -e.  The  full  form  is  often  retained,  however, 
when  the  participle  is  used  as  an  adjective  in  the  pi., 
as  ybrokene,  etc.  Chaucer  drops  the  -n  even  from  par- 
ticiples, which  is  never  done  in  modem  English,  and, 
indeed,  there  seems  to  be  a  tendency  at  present  to  restore 
it  to  all  past  participles  {hadde  he  be^  C.  T.  60).  The 
southern  dialect  retained  the  /-  or  _y-  as  a  prefix  up  to  a 
very  late  time,  while  the  northern  omits  it  entirely,  and 
Midland  writers,  with  northern  tendencies,  like  Orm,  fre- 
quently drop  it.* 

§  37.  The  connecting  vowel,  <?,  of  weak  verbs,  is  occa- 
sionally yet  preserved  in  the  past,  but  was  lost  at  an  early 
period,  while  /  (^, /,  ig)  long  remained  in  many  forms. 
Thus^y  {i)  is  found  in  the  ind.  and  subj.  pres.  for/  and  ig^ 
and  where  it  is  transferred  to  the  pst.  tense  and  pst.  prt. 
the  connecting  vowel  appears  twice,  both  as  y  (/)  and 
-e  {ymaried^  R.  of  Gl.).  It  is,  however,  of  most  frequent 
occurrence  in  the  inf.  as  zV,  ye^  y,  yen  (serui  and  \onki 
— louie  and  worssipie,  Aj.  of  Inw.),  being  very  common 
in  the  southern  dialect  and  occurring  also  in  the  West 
Midland,  but  very  rarely  so  in  the  East  Midland  and  not 
at  all  in  the  northern.  Old  French  verbs  in  -ier  were 
analogously  treated,  and  other  A.-S.  and  French  ones 
assimilated  to  them  {susteini,  conseili^  robby^  etc.  R.  of  Gl.) 

§  38.  The  past  of  weak  verbs  has  the  same  endings 
as  the  strong  and  is  affected  by  the  same  changes.     The 

*  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  327-328 ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  342 ;  Hadley's 
Intr.  to  W.'s  D.  $  173-174;  Morris's  ^5.  of  Inw.  Ixiv.-lxv. ;  Morris's 
Eng.  Acad.  180. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  3/ 

I  and  3  p.  sg.  end  in  -de^  with  or  without  the  connecting 
vowel  -e  {louede^  iealde,  etc.) ;  and,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
latter  example,  the  Umlaut  form  of  the  pst.  has  still  been 
preserved.  The  2  p.  ends  generally  in  -est,  but  in  the 
same  manner  as  this  -est  has  affected  the  2  p.  sg.  of  strong 
verbs,  it  has  itself  been  affected  by  the  regular  ending  of 
strong  verbs,  which  it  occasionally  takes  {Thou  maide^ 
Townely  Myst.  p.  20,  Matzner).  The  pi.  ends  in  -euy 
often  dropping  the  -n.  The  imp.  sg.  in  -e  is  still  pre- 
served {Make  me,  Luke  15.  19).  The  pst  prt.  ends  in 
-edy  but  -id  is  also  found  {embrowdid,  C.  T.  89),  even 
as  late  as  Burns  {biggiij  etc.),  and  it  occurs  also  as  -ud 
(bathud,  C.  T.  3,  enspirud,  6,  etc.).*  This  connecting 
vowel  -u  is  found  likewise  in  other  forms  {^ou — bryngust  ; 
me  clepuy,  R.  of  Gl.). 

§  39.  Chaucer  and  others  still  occasionally  use  Weot- 
l^an  to  form  the  passive  {worth  cheyned,  P.  P.,  Matzner), 
but  Beon  has  almost  displaced  it.  The  distinction  be- 
tween Be6n  and  Habban  in  the  formation  of  the  perfect 
and  plup.  has  partly  been  lost,  the  latter  being  used  with 
both  classes  \has — be?  Townely  Myst.,  Matzner;  is 
abide,  Trevisa).  The  past  of  Beon  is  used  with  the  pres. 
prt.  to  form  the  imperf.  {Syngynge  he  was,  orflowtynge — , 
C.  T.  91).  Besides  D6n  there  was  another  auxiliary  used 
to  form  the  imperf.,  gan  (gan—praye,  C.  T.,  302;  gan 
wende,  R.  of  GL),  which  was  probably  displaced  by  the 
other,  but  still  exists  as  a  compound  in  be-gan.  Sculan 
and  Willan,  as  auxiliaries  of  the  fut.  were  not  yet  distin- 
guished as  in  modem  English,  but  used  indiscriminately. 
The  latter  is  frequently  yet  transitive  {he  wolde,  Isaiah, 
53.  7 ;  I  wolde,  55,  11).    The  past  of  these  auxiliaries  is 

*  Matzner' s  Engl.  Gr.  I.  153,  320,  325,  327-328;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I. 
333,  335,  341;  Morris's  A"^.  of  Inw.  Ix.,  Ixiv. ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid. 
173;  Hadley's /w/?*.  to  W.'s  D.  $  169. 


33  THE  ENGLISH  VERB. 

used  to  form  the  conditional  mood  i^ef  he  schulde^  R.  of 
Gl.)  Bedn^  as  at  all  other  periods  of  the  language,  is 
used  with  the  dat.  inf.  with  a  fut.  sense  of  necessity  ()>/«- 
^es  \at  to  comene  dep,  R.  of  Gl.  3056,  Koch).  Cunnan, 
the  potential  auxiliary  {couthe  endite — couthe  pynche — 
couthe pleyn,  C.  T.  327-329),  is  still  frequently  used  in  its 
original  signification  of  knowledge  {the  wisdom  that  he 
can,  C.  T.  373).  As  an  auxiliary  it  is  probably  in  great 
part  an  imitation  of  the  French  savoir,  although  occurring 
already  in  A.-S.  (§  14).  Magan,  having  the  auxiliary 
force  of  Cunnan  {ne  mype  non  atstonde,  R.  of  Gl.),  is  some- 
times still  used  transitively  (hii  nop  ne  my%te,  R.  of  Gl.), 
MStan  is  still  used  to  denote  permission  {^Welcome  mote 
Ipou  be,  10680,  R.  of  Gl.  Koch),  and,  as  at  present,  to  ex- 
press obligation  {Men  mooten  y.ven — C.  T.  232) ;  the  past 
most,  beginning  to  be  used,  as  in  modern  English,  in  a 
present  sense.  Agan  as  a  transitive  verb  was  gradually 
displaced  by  ow?i,  which  has  come  either  from  the  verb 
dgnian,  or  from  the  pst.  prt.  dgen,  awen,  owen,  which  be- 
came adjective  in  its  use.  The  present  forms  of  the  verb 
are  found  as  auxiliaries  (/  own  not  to  be  conseiled  by  thee^ 
Mel.  Koch),  but  the  past,  ought,  began  to  be  used  as  a 
present.  An  impersonal  form  is  also  in  use  (  Well  ought 
us — honouren,  Legende  of  G.  W.  27).  A  compound 
imp.  is  formed  by  Lmtan  with  the  inf.  {Let  se — C.  T.  S^^), 
and  DSn  is  used  in  a  similar  manner,  being  thus  first  ap- 
plied, according  to  Morris,  by  Lydgate  {Do  gyf  glory — 
Morris)  but  this  use  may  already  be  found  in  A.-S.  {Swd 
dd^  nu — wr6standan,  Koch).  It  did  not,  however,  come 
into  general  use  till  the  15th  century.  Sculan  is  also  used 
imperatively  i^ou  ne  sselt  zuerie,  Aj.  of  Inw.)* 


*  Koch's  En^l.  Gr.  I.  358,  II.  19-30;  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  314,  316, 
374 ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  183-192 ;  Earle's  Phil,  of  the  Engl.  Tongue, 
949-353- 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 


39 


§  40.  In  the  substantive  verb,  the  forms  of  the  root  as 
are  with  slight  variations  identical  with  those  of  modern 
English :  we  find  ert  beside  art,  es  beside  is,  and  ere,  er, 
am  beside  are ;  while  the  *  A.-S.  and  O.  E.  Psalter'  fur- 
nishes an  example  of  is  for  art.  The  root  bd  is  still  found 
in  the  entire  present  {be,  beest,  bes ;  be\,  ben,  or  be) ;  in 
the  pres.  subj.  {be) ;  the  imp.  {be,  be\,  bes)  ;  the  inf.  {ben, 
bin,  beo,  be)  ;  pres.  prt.  {beende) ;  pst.  prt.  {be?ie,  bien,  ben). 
These  parts  are  still  sometimes  used  in  a  fut.  sense  as  in 
A.-S.  and  S.-S.  The  i  and  3  p.  sg.  of  the  past  are  was 
or  wes  ;  the  2  p.  is  uncertain,  the  pi.  Ablaut  form,  were, 
being  yet  retained,  but  as  this  Ablaut  was  disappearing 
from  the  language  we  also  find  was  (cf.  2  p.  sg.  of  O.  § 
28)  and  the  modem  form  wast.  The  pst.  subj.  is  were 
in  all  persons  and  numbers.  The  negative  forms  nam,  nis, 
nes,  nere  are  used  very  little  by  northern  writers,  but  very 
frequently  in  the  southern  dialect,* 

§  41.  The  preteritives  are 


Inf. 

Owen, 
Conne, 
Daren, 

Mowe, 
Moten, 

I  p.  sg.  pres. 

auh, 

can  (con), 

dar, 

may, 

mot, 

schall, 

wot  (wat). 

pi.  pres. 
owen, 

cunnen  (0), 
.  durren, 
mawen, 
moten, 
schullen, 

witen. 

past. 
ow%te, 
coude. 
dorste, 
my%te. 
moste. 

schulde  (0), 
wiste. 

Witen, 

Dugan  has  not  yet  entirely  disappeared  {non  ne  degh, 
Peter  Langtoft,  7445,  Koch).  Magan  (mowe)  still  pre- 
serves my-^t  in  the  2  p.  sg.,-  and  we  find  also  the  pres.  prt, 
mi^tand  and  the  pst.  prt.  might.  Munan  has  entirely  disap- 
peared and  Unnaft  nearly  so.  \urfan  has  likewise  almost 
disappeared,  and  where  it  is  met  with  it  has  been  cor- 


*  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  347-348 ;  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  366-367 ;  Mor- 
ris's A-^.  of  Inw.  Ixv.  Ixxxiv. ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  181-182. 


40  THE    ENGLISH   VERB. 

rupted  to  thar^  which  Chaucer  uses  impersonally  {hym 
tharnot  winnen  wel,  4318,  Koch).  The  old  form  tharf 
is  still  found  in  Sir  Tristrem  {tharf  him,  3.  69,  Koch). 
Willan  is  nearly  unchanged  {wolen,  will  \wolt\t  wilen 
[wolen],  wolde).  In  these  verbs  the  2  p.  sg.  very  fre- 
quently drops  its  personal  endings  {thou  can,  etc.).* 

*  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  322,  370-374 ;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  349-359 
Morris's  ^5.  of  Inw.  Ixxxiv.-lxxxv. ;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid,  183-191 ; 
Earle's  Phil,  of  the  Engl.  Tongue,  250. 


fx'        '-'^         ^'\ 

,  Library,  j 


IV. 

ELIZABETHAN  AND   MODERN   ENGLISH. 

§  42.  The  English  of  the  Elizabethan  period  was  in  its 
forms  and  vocabulary  materially  the  same  as  the  modern, 
but  still  there  are  some  important  differences,  but  mostly 
of  a  syntactical  nature.  "  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  Elizabethan  was  a  transitional  period  in  the  history  of 
the  English  language  (Abbott's  Shakespearian  Grammar, 
p.  6) ;  it  was  an  age  of  experiments,  and  the  experiments 
were  not  always  successful "  (Abbott,  p.  15).  Thus  ad- 
jectives are  used  with  the  utmost  freedom  as  verbs  with- 
out adding  the  ending  -en^  which  Abbott  calls  the  old 
infinitive  termination,  and  which  has  been  restored  in 
modern  English,  as  well  as  in  the  pst.  prt.  of  strong 
verbs,  the  -en  of  which  was  frequently  omitted,  in  accor- 
dance with  the  tendency  of  the  time  to  drop  the  -«. 
There  was  also  a  great  freedom  in  changing  intransitives 
to  transitives  and  vice  versd,  but  this  is  a  general  pecu- 
liarity of  the  English,*  and  not  of  the  Elizabethan  period 
alone.  Impersonal  verbs  are  also  more  frequently  used 
than  at  present  {s^ie  opposes  her  Two  G.  of  Verona,  III, 
2 ;  the  music  likes  you  noty  IV.  2) ;  and  as  "an  abundance 
of  impersonal  verbs  is  a  mark  of  an  early  stage  in  a  lan- 
guage "  (Abbott),  we  find  more  in  Early  English  than  in 
Elizabethan,  more  in  A.-S.  than  in  Early  English.t 

*  Keitte  Sprache  bedient  sick  der  Freihelt  die  Thatigkeitsbegriffe  zu  ver- 
tauschen  in  denselbem  Umfange  wie  die  Englische,  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr. 
I.  310- 

t  Abbott's  Shakespearian  Gtammat^  $  290-297 ;  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr. 
I.  309-313. 


42  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

§  43.  The  sg.  endings  were  the  same  as  they  are  now, 
the  I  p.  having  no  termination,  the  2  p.  -est^  the  3  p.  -eth 
or  -X,  and  as  now  in  terminationibus  -est  -eth  -ed  vocalis  e, 
fere  ad placitum  per  syncopen  tollitur  (J.  Wallis,  Matzner). 
The  termination  -es  {-isy  -ys)  of  the  2  p.,  frequently  found 
in  northern  dialects  (cf.  §  31)  is  occasionally  still  used  at 
a  very  late  period  (comes  thou^  M.  N.  D.  III.  2).  This 
is  of  particularly  frequent  occurrence  in  verbs  ending  in 
-/,  'tesi^  and  is  used  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  euphony 
{calVst— and  affrights,  B.  and  Fl.,  Abbott).  The  pi.  of 
the  present  is  uninflected,  but  we  still  find  traces  of  older 
forms,  the  one  in  -en  being  regularly  used  till  a  very  late 
period :  "  The  persons  plural  keep  the  termination  of  the 
first  person  singular.  In  former  times,  till  about  the  reign 
of  King  Henry  VIII.  they  were  wont  to  be  formed  by 
adding  en  thus: — Loven,  sayen,  complainen.  But  now 
(whatever  is  the  cause)  it  is  quite  grown  out  of  use,  and 
that  other  so  generally  prevailed  that  I  dare  not  presume 
to  set  this  on  foot  again"  (Ben  Jonson,  Abbott).  Spenser 
very  frequently  uses  it  as  an  archaic  form,  and  it  is  some- 
times also  used  thus  by  Shakespeare  {waxen,  M.  N.  D.  II. 
i).  It  is  still  preserved  dialectically,  as  in  Lancashire, 
Gloucestershire,  and  other  counties.  The  terminations  -eth 
and  -es  remained  longer  than  -en,  being  found  till  late  in 
the  17  th  century,  especially  in  northern  writers  {rebels — 
prevails,  drawgoons  does,  Cleland's  poems  [1697],  p.  30, 
Matzner).  This  form  remained  particularly  in  the  3  p. 
pi.,  and  in  Shakespeare  is  often  thus  found  as  -s,  but  is 
generally  altered  by  modern  editors.  This  almost  seems 
to  have  been  the  regular  inflection  "  when  the  subject  is 
as  yet  future,  and,  as  it  were,  unsettled"  (Abbott),  being 
particularly  common  in  the  phrase  there  is  {But  there  is 
two  hard  things,  M.  N.  D.  III.  i;  Thete  is  two  or  three 
lords  and  ladies  more  married,  IV.  2).  But  it  is  some- 
times only  ^seemingly  a  plural,  the  verb  not  having  the 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  43 

preceding  pi.  noun,  but  the  clause  as  its  subject  {Amf  all 
their  minds  transfigured  so  together^  More  witnesseth  than 
fancy's  images^  M.  N.  D.  V.  i),  and  the  -s  inflection  is  also 
frequently  used  when  two  singular  nouns  are  the  subject 
(Hanging  and  wiving  goes  by  destiny^  M.  of  V.,  II.  9,  Ab- 
bott), but  other  Shakespearian  plurals  in  -s  may  be  con- 
sidered misprints.* 

§  44.  Not  much  need  be  said  of  the  past  of  strong 
verbs,  except  that  Shakespeare  shows  a  preference  for  u 
in  verbs  of  the  21st  A.-S.  class  {sung^  swum^  etc.).  This 
vowel  of  the  past  is  a  relic  of  the  pi.  Ablaut^  which  has 
otherwise  disappeared,  although  Byron  is  quoted  as  still 
using  it  in  the  2  p.  sg.  {Thou^  who  didst  call  the  furies 
from  the  abyss ^  And  round  Orestes\  bade  them  howl  and 
hiss),  but  he  also  uses  this  form  in  a  weak  verb  {thou  once 
formed),  but  this  Matzner  explains  as  being  a  weak  verb 
affected  by  the  ending  of  the  2  p.  sg.  pst.  of  strong  verbs 
(cf.  §  38.)  Verbs  whose  inf.  ends  in  -/  are  more  frequently 
unchanged  in  the  past  in  Shakespeare  than  at  present 
(Stood  Dido^and  waft,  M.  of  V.  v.  i.  Abbott),  t 

§  45.  The  subj.  was  much  more  frequently  used  than 
now,  but,  having  the  same  form  as  the  ind.  it  can  some- 
times be  recognized  by  the  context  alone ;  in  which  case 
it  is  occasionally  placed  before  the  subject  {Did  I  tell  this 
— who  would  believe  me  ?  M.  for  M.  II.  4,  Abbott ;  cf. 
the  German :  Sagte  ich  dies  wer  wUrde  mir  glauben  ?) 
The  simple  form  is  sometimes  used  together  with  the  aux- 
iliary one  {If  thou  wert  the  lion,  the  fox  would  beguile  thee, 
etc.  T.  of  Ath.  IV.  3.  Abbott).     Where  neither  doubt  nor 


*Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  321-325;  i'Ci^oVC %  Shakespearian  Gr.  p.  8; 
$  332-340.  This  plural  may  possibly  be  preserved  among  the  lower 
orders,  who  use  it  in  all  persons  of  both  numbers  (/  wants,  you  wants, 
they  pretends,  etc,  Martin  Chuzzlewit,  Ch.  49),  it  having^perhaps  crept 
into  the  i  and  2  p,  sg.  from  analogy  with  the  pi.  and  the  3  p.  sg. 

t  Matzner' s  Engl.  Gr.  I.  325  ;  Abbott's  Shakesp.  Gr.  $  339-341. 


44  THE  ENGLISH   VERB.       -■ 

futurity  is  implied,  the  indie,  takes  the  place  of  the  subj., 
but  these  moods  are  sometimes  used  indiscriminately  to- 
gether (Therefore ^  if  thou  bring  thy  gift  to  the  altar ^  and 
there  rememberest — Matt.  5.  23,  Abbott).  The  optative 
subj.  was  much  more  frequently  used  than  in  modem 
poetry  {Oh,  that  that  were  out!  Two  G.  of  V.  III.  i). 
The  subj.  is  frequently  used,  with  or  without  that,  to  ex- 
press purpose,  but  sometimes  it  is  also  used  after  that  in 
dependent  sentences,  where  simple  futurity  is  implied  (/ 
doubt  not  you  [will]  sustain  what  youWe  worthy  of  by  your 
attempt,  Cymb.  I.  4,  Abbott),  and  it  is  likewise  common 
after  verbs  of  command,  since  command  implies  a  pur- 
pose ^T^j/^i?  heed  the  Queen  come  not,  M.  N.  D.  II.  i). 
After  a  past  tense  the  auxiliary  should  is  used  (She  bade 
me — I  should  teach  him,  Othello,  I.  3,  Abbott).  * 

§  46.  To  was  sometimes  used  before  the  inf.  where  we 
omit  it  {They  would — to  have  defeated,  M.  N.  D.  IV.  i), 
and  on  the  other  hand  is  omitted  where  we  use  it  {would 
enforce  me  marry.  Two  G.  of  V.  IV.  3),  and  especially  in 
such  phrases,  as  //  were  best  ("'twere  best  pound  you,  Two 
G.  of  V.  I.  i).  It  is  sometimes  omitted  in  the  former  of 
two  clauses  and  inserted  in  the  latter,  this  being  especially 
frequent  where  the  principal  verb  is  an  auxiliary  or  in  form 
like  one.t  To  is  often  preceded  by  for,  when  expressing 
a  purpose,  similar  to  the  Old  French  por  (pour)  h  with 
the  inf ,  a  usage  which  is  still  more  common  in  Early 
English  (Cf.  the  Scandinavian  languages,  which  likewise 
use  other  prepositions  in  the  same  way).  The  use  of  to 
still  shows  traces  of  the  old  dat.  inf.  being  not  only  used 
with  the  simple  inf,  but  also  to  express  any  relation  of  the 
gerund  {Thoti'lt  torture  me  to  leave  [for  leaving]  unspoken 

*  Abbott's  Shakesp.  Gr.  $  361-369. 

t  But  in  the  instance  given  by  Abbott  {And  let  thein\all  encircle  him 
about.  And  fairy-like  to  pinch  the  unclean  knight),  the  to  may  be  the  A.-S. 
intensive  particle  /^,  German  zer,  as  Prof.  Corson  suggests. 


THE  ENGLISH    VERB.  45 

that  Which  to  be  spoke  [by  being  spoken]  would  torture 
thee^  Cymb.  V.  5.  Abbott).*  May  not  this  inf.  be  pre- 
served in  the  phrase  givett  tOj  as  given  to  talking?  (Cf.  the 
German  dem  Sprecheti  zugegeben^  where  the  inf.  is  used  as 
a  noun  in  the  dative).  Spenser  and  Shakespeare  have  an 
archaic  use  of  the  inf.  in  -en  (To  killen^  Pericles  II.). 
In  some  dialects  of  southern  England  the  inf.  in  -ie  {^-ye, 
-y ;  A,-S.  -iaii)  still  exists  [Che II  whistley  and  zing  and 
capery  vor  ollyow  cheesen^  Exmoore  dialect ;  Morris).f 

§  47.  The  participial  termination  -ing  represents  the  old 
dat.  inf.,  the  prs.  prt.,  and  the  verbal  noun  in  ung,  and 
Shakespeare  appears  to  have  used  it  occasionally  for  the 
-en  of  the  pst.  prt.  {his  all-obeying  breathy  A.  and  C.  III. 
13.  77,  Abbott).  The  ancient  termination  may  perhaps 
be  represented  by  the  in\  frequendy  occurring  in  Scotch 
writers,  the  -d  having  probably  been  dropped,  as  in  many 
other  words  where  it  follows  an  -n  (An''  getiin^  fou  and 
unco  happy f  Tam  O'Shanter),  and  this  appears  the  more 
likely  as  the  Scotch  retain  the  participle  in  -and  till  a  very 
late  period;  the  -d  being  perhaps  silent,  as  in  Swedish  and 
Danish.  J  The  form  -and  still  occurs  in  Spenser  {glitter- 
and,  I.  7,  29,  Koch).  In  some  points  the  verbal  has 
changed  in  its  use ;  thus,  we  do  not  use  it  as  a  noun  fol- 
lowed by  ofy  unless  preceded  hy  the  or  a  defining  adjec- 
tive, but  this  was  frequently  done  in  Elizabethan  English 
{admiring  of  his  qualities,  M.  N.  D.I.  i;  warbling  of  one 
song,  III.  2) ;  while  it  was  sometimes  omitted  where  we 

*  Abbott's  Shakesp.  Gr.  $  349-359. 

t  Morris's  A^.  of  Inw,  Ixiii. ;  Morris's  Engl,  Accid.  173 ;  Koch's 
Engl.  Gr.  I.  340. 

X  "  If  an  /  or  «  precedes  a  c?  in  the  same  syllable,  it  is  always  silent," 
Ollendorflf's  Danische  Gramtnatik,  p.  9;  Schwedische  Grammatik,  ix. 
Perhaps  in  early  English  this  -d  was  also  silent,  and  the  ending  -en 
(d)  then  corrupted  to  -ing,  as  even  at  the  present  day  the  colored 
minister  at  the  South  may  leave  his  kitching  duties  to  address  his 
brether'mg. 


46  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

could  not  do  so  {In  the  delaying  deaths  M.  for  M.  IV.  2, 
Abbott).  An  adjective  is  sometimes  used  without  the 
pit.  {yoy  absent^  grief  is  present — Rich.  II.  1. 3,  Abbott), 
which,  in  the  case  of  a  simple  word  like  beings  is  some- 
times implied  {With  this  field-dew  [being]  consecrate — M. 
N.  D.  V.  2).  The  -en  in  the  pst.  prt.  of  strong  verbs  fre- 
quently drops  the  -n  as  already  said,  and  sometimes  we 
also  find  irregular  participles  {have  droven^  A.  and  C.  IV.  7, 
Abbott).  The  -d  of  the  pst.  prt.  of  weak  verbs  ending  in 
-te,  -/,  and  -d  is  more  frequently  omitted  than  now  {create, 
consecrate,  M.  N.  D.  V.  2).  The  prefix  y-  is  rarely  used 
and  then  only  archaically,  being  thus  found  also  in  more 
modern  English.  Sackville  is  quoted  by  Abbott  as  using 
it  even  before  a  pres.  prt.  {y-causing),  to  which  we  may 
add  Milton's  star-ypointing  (Epitaph  on  Shakespeare). 
The  -ed  of  this  prt.  has  occasionally  the  force  of  -able 
{Inestimable  stones,  unvalued  jewels,  Rich.  III.  I.  4,  Ab- 
bott), and  is  also  used  more  commonly  than  at  present  in 
the  manner  of  the  A.-S.  dat.  absolute  {who  removed,  Earl 
Surrey  was  sent  thither,  Henry  VIII.  II.  i,  Abbott)  and 
sometimes  expresses  a  condition  where  we  would  use  if 
{This  sport,  well  carried,  shall  be  chronicled,  M.  N.  D.  III. 
2).* 

§  48.  The  imperfect  is  either  a  simple  tense  or  is  com- 
pounded by  did  with  the  inf.  {called,  did  call).  The  per- 
fect is  formed  by  the  present  of  have,  the  plup.  by  the 
past,  with  the  pst.  prt.,  both  with  transitives  and  intransi- 
tives.  The  use  of  the  parts  of  be  with  intransitives  for 
the  same  purpose  was  more  common  in  Elizabethan  than 
in  present  English.  The  fut.  is  formed  by  shall  and  will 
used  with  the  inf. ;  the  fut.  perf.  by  the  same  auxiliaries 
used  with  the  perf.  inf.,  observing  the  distinction  in  both 


*  Abbott's  Shakesp.  Gr.  %  342-34S,  $  372-381 ;  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I. 
327;  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  342;  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  p.  180. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  47 

tenses  of  using  shall  in  the  i  p.  sg.  and  pi.  and  will  in 
the  other  persons.  In  Shakespeare's  time  this  distinction 
was  not  yet  made :  "  we  had  not  then  reached  that  stage 
of  politeness  which  shrinks  from  the  appearance  of  speak- 
ing compulsorily  to  another"  (Fowler).  Shall  was  used 
in  all  three  persons  to  denote  inevitable  futurity,  being 
connected  in  meaning  with  must ;  and  gradually  assilmed 
the  meaning  of  compulsory  necessity  in  the  2  and  3  p., 
when  displaced  in  its  fut.  signification  by  willy  which  is 
sometimes  used  with  the  2  p.  in  an  imp.  sense,  like  the 
Greek  optative  with  av  [you'll  leave  your  noise  anon,  ye 
rascals;  Henry  VIII.  v.  4,  Abbott).  The  fut.  is  sometimes 
used  for  the  subj.  and  inf.  [If  thou  refuse  and  wilt  encoun- 
ter with  my  wrath  J  W.  T.  II.  3,  Abbott),  similar  to  the 
use  of  the  fut.  for  the  subj.  in  the  silver  age  of  Latinity 
( — iia  ewn,  qui  res  invenire  et  disponere  sciet — Quint.  X. 
I.);  and  it  seems  also  to  have  signified  habitual  recur- 
rence ( When  a  man's  servant  shall  play  the  cur  with  him. 
Two  G.  of  V.  IV.  4).  The  past  of  these  auxiliaries  is 
used  with  the  inf.  to  express  the  present  conditional,  and 
with  the  perf.  inf.  to  form  the  past  of  the  same  mood. 
Should,  the  past  of  shall,  underwent  the  same  modifica- 
tions of  meaning,  and  is  therefore  not  used  with  the  2  p. 
to  denote  simple  futurity;  but  in  a  conditional  clause, 
where  there  can  be  no  idea  of  compulsion,  it  is  retained, 
would  following  in  the  consequent  clause;  but  Shake- 
speare uses  should  in  both  clauses  {you  should  refuse  to 
perform  your  father's  will,  if  you  should  refuse  to  accept 
him,  M.  of  V.  I.  2.  100,  Abbott).  Should  is  frequently 
used  to  express  contingent  futurity  {Any  mortal  hearing  it 
should  straight  fall  mad,  T.  A.  II.  3,  102,  104,  Abbott) 
and  also  in  the  sense  of  ought  {Every  man  should  take 
his  own,  M.  N.  D.  III.  2).  Like  the  German  sollen  it 
denotes  a  statement  not  made  by  the  speaker  {But  didst 
thou  hear  without  wonder  how  thy  name  should  be  so 


4?  THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

hanged  and  carved  about  these  trees y  A.  Y.  L.  III.  2, 
Abbott,  cf.  §  14),  and  occasionally  has  the  force  of  was  to 
(About  his  son  that  should  have  married  a  Shepherd 's 
daughter,  W.  T.  IV.  4,  Abbott).  The  tenses  of  the  poten- 
tial mood  are  formed  by  may  and  can.  The  present  with 
the  inf.  forms  the  pres.,  with  the  perf.  inf.  the  perf. ;  the 
past  with  the  inf.  forms  the  imperf.,  and  the  pluperf.  with 
the  perf.  inf.  Can  sometimes  retains  its  original  significa- 
tion {All lean,  Two  G.  of  V.  I,  5),  and  may  is  also  still 
found  in  the  sense  oimagan  {I  might  see,  M.  N.  D.  II.  2  ; 
/  never  may  believe,  V.  i),  and  is  frequently  used  opta- 
tively  like  other  verbs  in  Elizabethan  English.  Must,  also 
used  as  a  potential  auxiliary,  originally  meant  ability ^or 
power,  but  passed  over  into  the  signification  of  ought,  and 
is  now  generally  used  in  a  compulsory  sense;  in  Shake- 
speare, however,  it  sometimes  denotes  merely  definite  fu- 
turity {A  tomb  must  cover  thy  sweet  eyes,  M.  N.  D.  v.  i). 
The  I  and  3  p.  of  the  imp.  are  compounded  by  let  with 
the  inf.  In  negations  do  was  not  always  inserted  before 
not  in  Shakespeare's  time  {she  not  denies  it,  M.  A.  about 
N.  IV.  i).*  The  passive  of  all  verbs  is  formed  by  the 
parts  of  be  used  with  the  pst.  prt. ;  weor^an  being  pre- 
served only  in  the  phrase  woe  worth  the  day  (Bible ;  Lady 
of  the  Lake).t 

§  49.  In  the  substantive  verb,  Wallis  gives  bee,  beest,  bee; 
^\.  bee,  as  regular  forms  for  the  subj.,  but  also,  for  the  ind., 
being  especially  used  in  the  pi.  {Those  be  rubies,  M.  N.  D. 
II.  i).  ^^  is  generally  used  with  some  notion  of  doubt, 
question,  thought,  etc.  {I  wonder  if  the  lion  be  to  speak, 
M.  N.  D.  V.  i),  and  the  same  applies  to  were  in  its  subj. 
use.  Early  writer^  show  a  tendency  to  use  were  for  be 
after  that  in  subordinate  clauses  and  also  should  for  shall 


*  Abbott's  Shakesp.  Gr.  $  295,  303-329,  346. 
t  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  314,  etc. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB.  49 

in  the  same  case  {Go  we  fast  that  we  were  //^^ai^,  Abbott). 
Wast,  weri  are  modern  formations  and  not  found  in  Early 
English,  Were  is  the  only  verb  in  the  language  that 
retains  the  distinction  of  sg.  and  pi.  Ablaut,  and  we  find 
the  latter  used  in  the  2  p.  sg.  yet,  even  as  late  as  Shake- 
speare (Thou  were,  K.  Lear,  Matzner).*  In  Northamp- 
ton, Bedford,  and  Somerset,  am  is  retained  in  all  persons  : 
he^m,  we^77i,you'm;  in  Somerset,  I  be,  thee  bist,  we  be,  you 
be,  they  be  are  also  usual,  and  in  Cheshire  and  Shropshire 
we  been,  you  been,  they  been,  while  in  Dorsetshire  we  find 
I  be,  thee  bist,  heis  ;  we  be,  you  be,  the  be;  and  in  north- 
em  dialects  the  forms  of  Chaucer's  clerks  are  still  custo- 
mary :  /  is,  ye  is,  we  is,  you  is,  they  w.f 

§  50.  Agan,  as  already  said  (§  39),  was  displaced  by 
own,  but  it  is  still  represented  by  the  weak  verb  owe,  which 
Shakespeare  uses  for  own.  Ought  is  properly  a  past  of 
owe,  but  was  already  used  by  Chaucer  as  a  present.  The 
/  in  could  has  crept  in,  in  modern  times,  probably  from 
analogy  with  should  and  would.  The  weak  verb  con  is 
derived  from  Cunnan,  as  also  cunning,  properly  a  pres. 
prt.,  and  uncouth  a  pst.  prt.  Dugan  is  perhaps  retained 
in  the  phrase  how  do  you  do  ?  (but  cf.  the  Dutch  Hoe 
maakt  gij  het?)  The  weak  verb  dare  is  derived  from 
Durran,  which  is  still  found  as  a  genuine  preteritive  in 
the  3  p.,  he  dare.  The  y  in  may  represents  an  older  g^ 
mceg,  as  in  many  other  words  {dceg,  day,  etc.).  Of  Mdtam 
nothing  has  remained  but  the  pst.  must,  but  it  is  occa- 
sionally used  in  an  archaic  way  {All  that  mote  to  luxury 
invite,  Childe  Harold  I.  xi.).  Munan  has  disappeared 
and  also  Unnan,  unless  we  accept  the  etymology  that  de- 
rives an  from  it,  just  as  if  was  once  held  to  be  derived 


*  Abbott's  Shakesp,  Gr.  $  298-301 ;  Matzner's  En^L  Gr.  I.  366- 
Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  181-182. 
t  Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  I.  348. 


THE  ENGLISH   VERB. 

from  Gi/atty  both  being  said  to  be  imperatives.  Own^ 
meaning  to  confess,  may  have  arisen  from  the  i  p.  sg. 
{an,  on).  Wis/,  the  past  of  Witan,  frequently  occurs  in 
the  Bible,  and  is  still  occasionally  used  at  the  present  day 
(wist  not  whose  they  were,  Bryant ;  Matzner)  as  well  as 
the  present  wot.  Shakespeare  has  /,  you,  they  wot  and 
also  wotting,  and  it  is  found  in  a  weak  form  in  Sackville* 
wotted.  The  dat.  inf.  td-witanne  is  preserved  in  to  wit, 
used  adverbially,  but  I  wis  is  probably  derived  from  the 
adverb  >'Z£//V  (German  gewiss).  The  o  in  the  Early  English 
forms  of  Willan  is  still  preserved  in  wont.  It  is  some- 
times still  found  combined  with  the  negative  ne  (/  nill 
relate,  Pericles,  III.).* 

*  Morris's  Engl.  Accid.  183-191 ;  Matzner's  Engi.  Gr.  I.  370-374,  322 ; 
Koch's  Engl.  Gr.  349-359;  Earle's  PhU.  of  the  Engl,  Tongue,  250. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  IRREGULAR    VERBS  IN  ENGLISH. 


I. 

STRONG  VERBS. 

None  of  the  strong  verbs  of  the  5th,  6th,  7th  and  17th 
classes  have  been  preserved  as  strong  verbs  in  the  Eng- 
lish.   The  remnants  of  the  other  classes  are  as  follows ; 

NINTH    CLASS. 


FIRST 

CLASS. 

Fall 

Feallan 

Hold 

Healdan 

Wax 

Weaxan 

SECOND 

CLASS. 

Blow 

Bldwan 

Crow 

Crdwan 

Know 

Cndwan 

Mow 

Mdwan 

Sow 

Sdwan 

Throw 

\rdwan 

Awake 

Wacan 

Bake 

Bacan 

Draw 

Dragan 

Forsake 

Forsacan 

Grave 

Grafan 

Load) 
Ladef 

Hladan 

Shake 

Scacan 

Shave 

Scafan 

Stand 

Standan 

Take 

Tacan 

THIRD    CLASS. 

Beat  Bedtan 

Hew  Hedwan 

FOURTH    CLASS. 

Grow  Grdwan 

EIGHTH   CLASS. 

Hang  Hangan 


TENTH    CLASS. 

Slay  Sleahan 

ELEVENTH    CLASS. 


Heave 
Swear 
Shape 


Hebban 
Swerian 
Scyppan 


52                                APPENDIX. 

TWELFTH  CLASS. 

TWENTIETH    CLASS. 

Eat                 Eian 

Quoth             Cwe^an 

Abide 

Abtdan 

Speak              Sprecan 

Bite 

Biian 

Tread              Tredan 

Chide 

Cidan 

Drive 

Drifan 

THIRTEENTH   CLASS. 

Ride 

Ridan 

Bid                 Biddan 

Rise 

Risan 

Lie                 Licgan 

Shine 

Scinan 

Slide 

Slidan 

FOURTEENTH   CLASS. 

Smite 

Sinitan 

Get                  Getan 

Stride 

Stridan 

Give               Gifan 

Strike 

Strican 

See                  Seon 

Thrive 

\rifan 

Writhe 

Wr^an 

FIFTEENTH   CLASS. 

Write 

Writan 

B3ar                Beran 

Break              Brecan 

TWENTY-FIRST  CLAS 

Shear               5^^rdr« 

Steal                »$•/<?/«« 

Begin 

Beglnnan 

Tear                7>m« 

Bind 

Bindan 

Weave            W^^w 

Cling 

Clingan 

Drink 

Drincan 

SIXTEENTH    CLASS. 

Find 

Findan 

Come              Cuman 

Grind 

Grindan 

Run 

Rinnan 

EIGHTEENTH   CLASS. 

Shrink 

Scrincan 

Fight               Feohtan 

Sing 

Singan 

Help               Helpan 

Sink 

Sitican 

Melt                Meltan 

Sling 

Slingan 

Swell               Swellan 

Slink 

Slincan 

Spin 

Spinnan 

NINETEENTH    CLASS. 

Spring 

Springan 

Choose            Ceosan 

Sting 

Stingan 

Cleave            C/^^^^w 

Stink 

Stincan 

Fly                  Fleogan 

Swing 

Swingan 

Freeze             Fredsan 

Swim 

Swimman 

Rive                Reofan 

Win 

IVinnan 

Seeth               ^^^t7« 

Wind 

W^indan 

Shoct              ^^<f^/««  "^ 

Wring 

Wringan 

APPENDIX.  S3 

The  following  verbs  are  weak  in  Anglo-Saxon: 
Dig  Dician  String         Strengan 

Ring  Hringan  Strow  Stredwian 

Show  Scedwian  Wear  Werian 

Stick  Stkiaji 


The  verb  from  which  Strive  is  derived  is  unknown,  but 
it  belongs  probably  to Jhe  20th  class;  Fling  is  derived 
from  northern  dialects;  Saw  is  derived  from  A.-S.  sage, 
and  should  properly  therefore  be  weak. 


II. 

IRREGULAR  WEAK   VERBS. 

The  following  weak  verbs,  whose  stem  ends  in  -d  with 
a  long  vowel,  form  the  past  by  shortening  the  stem-vowel : 


Bleed 

Bledan 

Lead 

Lsedan 

Breed 

Bredan 

Read 

Redan 

Feed 

Fidan 

Hide 

Hydan 

Speed 

Spidan 

Betide 

Beiidan 

The  following  verbs,  whose  stem  ends  in '/  with  a  long 
vowel,  form  the  past  in  the  same  manner ; 

Meet  Metan  Light  Lihtan 


The  following  verbs  ending  in  -d,  with  preceding  liquid 
and  short  vowel,  change  the  -d  to  -t  in  the  pst. : 

Bend  ^endajt  Shend  Sceftdan 

Lend  Lsena?t  Spend  Spendan 

Rend  Hrendan  Wend  Wendan 

Send  Sendan  Gird  Gyrdan 

The  last  named  is  also  regular ;  Build  is  wanting:  in 
A.-S.,  probably  derived  from  Bold,  a  house;  Geld,  which 
is  also  regular,  is  of  uncertain  A.-S.  derivation. 


54  APPENDIX. 

,    The  following  verbs  shorten  the  stem -vowel  and  add  -d  : 
Hear  Hyran  Shoe  Scojan 

Flee  is  from  Fledhan  of  the  strong  conjugation. 


Keep  (CSpan)  shortens  the  vowel  and  adds  -/  in  the 
past,  and  the  following  verbs,  which  were  strong  in  A.-S. 
have  probably  been  imitated : 

Creep  Credpan  Weep  Wipan 

Sleep  Slmpan  Leap  Hledpan 

Sweep         Swdpan 

The  following  verbs  change  v  into /before  the  suffix  t  : 
Leave  Lsefan  Reave  Redfian 

Cleave  is  from  the  strong  verb  Cleofan,  The  following 
verbs  also  belong  here : 

Lose  Losian  Feel  Felan 

Mean  Mmnan. 

Deal  (Dselan)  is  sometimes  regular,  as  well  as  Lean 
[Hlinian) ;  Kneel,  which  is  also  regular,  was  probably- 
formed  by  a  mixture  of  A.-S.  Cneowian  and  French  genou- 
iller ;  Dream,  also  sometimes  regular,  is  related  to  A.-S. 
Dreman^  to  shout,  exult ;  while  the  corresponding  words 
in  German  and  Danish  mean  to  dream. 


If  /,  J,  Xy  //,  or  /  follows  a  short  vowel  of  the  stem, 

some  verbs  add  -t  instead  of  -ed^  this  being  formerly  more 

frequent  than  now : 

Dip  Dyppan  Mix    .        Misca?i 

Drop  Dropian  Learn        Leornian 

Step  Sieppan  Spell  Spellian 

Bless  Bletsian  Spill  Spillan 

Burn  is  from  Beornan^  which  is  strong  and  Bernafty 

weak.    Some  verbs  of  French  derivation  are  sometimes 

conjugated  thus :  Pass,  Press,  etc. 


APPENDIX.  55 

Words  ending  in  -/  with  a  preceding  consonant,  remain 
unchanged  in  the  past : 
Let  Lsetan  Sweat  SwsRfan 

Set  Settan  Thrust  \rmstan 

Shut         Scyttan  Wet  Ws^tan 

Spit  Spitian  Hight  Hdtan 

Split  is  probably  derived  from  the  Danish,  as  well  as 
Put ;  Cast,  Cut,  Hit,  are  derived  from  northern  dialects ; 
Cost  and  Quit,  the  latter  also  regular,  coi^ie  from  the 
French ;  Hurt  is  of  foreign  origin ;  Burst  is  from  the 
strong  verb  Bersian,  while  Slit  is  derived  from  Slitan, 
strong  and  Slsetan,  weak;  Knit  (Cnyttan)  is  also  regular. 


Some  verbs  ending  in  -d  with  a  short  vowel,  remain 
also  unchanged : 

Shed  Sceddan  Shred  Screddian 

Spread  Sprabdan 


The  following  weak  verbs  forming  their  past  by  a 
change  of  root  vowel  are  derived  from  the  4th  A.-S. 
weak  Conjugation : 


Tell              Tellan 

Buy 

Bycgan 

Sell              Syllan 

Seek 

Secan 

Bring           Bringan 

Beseech 

Bisecan 

Think          \encan 

Work 

Wyrcan 

he  last  is  also  regular. 

The  following  verbs  belong  to  those  verbs  of  the  3d 
Conjugation,  whose  stem  ends  in  double  ^,  or  in  c  alone 
with  a  preceding  long  vowel ;  and  which  in  the  past  take 
-hte  and  frequently  also  in  the  pst.  prt.  -hi. 

Catch,  which  is  probably  derived  from  northern  dia- 
lects; Reach,  {Rabcan)  is  also  regular;  Teach  is  from 
T'dbcan, 


56  APPENDIX. 

Some  verbs  drop  the  last  consonant  of  the  stem  before 
the  'd  of  the  pst.  tense  and  participle : 

Make  Macian  Have  Habban 

Clothe,  from  ClMian^  is  also  regular. 


The  irregularity  of  the  following  verbs  is  more  of  an 
orthographical  nature:  Pay  and  Stay  from  the  French; 
Lay  (Lecgati)  and  Say  i^Secgan)* 

*  Loth's  Ags,-Engl.  Gr.  pp.  182-189  ;  191-196.  Matzner's  Engl.  Gr. 
I.  329-344 ;  346-366.  See  also  Morris's  EngL  Accid.  ;  Earle's  I'Ail.  0/ 
the  Engl.  Tongue;  Koch's  Engl.  Cnetc. 


WORKS  CONSULTED. 

Abbott's  Shakespearian  Grammar. 

Bosworth's  Gothic,  Anglo-Saxon,  WyclifFe,  and  Tyndale  Gos- 
pels. 

Brock's  Morte  Arthure. 

Brockhaus'  Conversations-Lexikon  (German). 

Corson's  Hand-Book  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English. 

Corson's  Legende  of  Goode  Women. 

Corson's  Jottings  on  the  Text  of  Hamlet. ' 

Earle's  Philology  of  the  English  Tongue. 

Fowler's  English  Grammar, 

FritSrikson's  Islandsk  Laesebog  (Danish). 

Furnivall's  Arthur. 

Furnivall's  Holy  Grail. 

Furnivall's  Wright's  Chaste  Wife. 

Grein's  A.-S.  Pentateuch,  etc. 

Hadley's  Introduction  to  Webster's  Dictionary. 

Holmboe's  Det  Norske  Sprogs  Vaesentligste  Ordforraad  (Da- 
nish). 

Holmboe's  Det  Oldnorske  Verbum  (Danish). 

Hume's  Orthographie  and  Congruitie  of  the  Britan  Tongue 
(Wheatley's  Ed.). 

Koch's  Englische  Grammatik  (German). 

Lauder's  Office  and  Dewtie  of  Kingis  (Hall's  Ed.). 

Loth's  Angelsachsisch-Englische  Grammatik  (German). 

Madden's  Laj^amon. 

March's  Compar.  Gram,  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Language. 

Matzner's  Englische  Grammatik  (German). 

Max  MUller's  Lectures. 

Morris's  Arenbite  of  Inwyt. 

Morris's  English  Accidence. 

Morton's  Ancren  Riwle. 

Ollendorff's  Hollandische  Grammatik  (German). 

Ollendorff's  Schwedische  Grammatik  (German). 

Ollendorff's  DSnische  Grammatik  (German). 

Panton's  and  Donaldson's  Gest  Hystoriale. 

Skeat's  Lancelot  of  the  Laik. 

Thorpe's  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle. 

Thorpe's  Analecta  Anglo-Saxonica. 

Tyrwhitt's  Chaucer. 

White's  Ormulum. 

Whitney's  Study  of  Language. 


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